


We're Making It Through (I And You)

by RiverHeadCF



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: After the first chapter, Bit more fluff, Bughead and Babies, Domestic Fluff, Enough fluff to sink a ship, F/M, Family, Fluff, More Fluff, One-Shots, Pregnancy, The Secrets Deep Within one-shots, The first chapter is more like hurt comfort, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, free-form, married bughead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 07:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14869736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverHeadCF/pseuds/RiverHeadCF
Summary: A collection of both sweet and bittersweet moments throughout the lives of Jughead, Betty and their growing family as the Jones family continue to make it through everything that life throws their way, growing stronger together....{Alternatively, the follow on from 'The Secrets Deep Within', but can also be read as stand-alone one-shots.}





	1. Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my new journey! While I'm a self-professed angst writer, this one's going to be predominantly fluff, domesticity and sweetness, just aside from this first one-shot which will be more hurt/comfort.
> 
> While it is a continuation of my story 'The Secrets Deep Within' reading that won't be detrimental to reading this, I don't think. Anything from that story that you'll need to know, you'll know at the time. Besides, I think you'll work out how that story left off pretty quickly...
> 
> Enjoy!

**1\. Aftermath**

"I think I might be pregnant, Jughead."

Of all the things that Jughead Jones had  **not**  been expecting to hear from his wife that night, the very thing that he  _does_  hear tops the list and ranks at number one most unlikely, without doubt.

Instantly jolting up in bed like he has just been awoken from a nightmare of free falling, Jughead spends the longest moment sitting there. He sits there in total silence, now filled with utter shock, when just moments ago he had been laying in bed beside Betty, blissfully unaware of the fear plaguing her.

His eyes begin to water and his chest begins thumping within him,  _pounding_ , as fast as his mind begins to race.

 _Pregnancy_  doesn't terrify him. He'd been right by Betty's side throughout her pregnancy with Emi so he has a rough idea of what to expect.

 _Fatherhood_  doesn't terrify him. After all, even despite he's young age, he's been finding his way through everything –the sleepless nights, settling crying babies, teething and every stage that has come before and after- as a result of spending over half a year as Emi's doting dad.

Rather, the most terrifying details that overwhelm Jughead the most is the fact that their daughter is only seven-months-old and they still barely have enough behind them to support themselves, even while living with Betty's parents.

He is absolutely  _terrified_.

With his own shock and fear pulsing through him, honestly Jughead is glad that he and Betty are lying in darkness in their room so that she doesn't have to see the look of terror on his face. However, Betty doesn't need to  _see_  his face to know what expression is on it.

"Are you sure?" Jughead eventually manages to croak, coming to his senses for long enough to try and feebly reach a hand out and around, attempting to locate hers through the covers to be able to give her hand a squeeze of support.

"No, I'm not sure. I haven't taken a test or seen a doctor. It was only when I was writing in the appointment for Emi's next visit and weigh-in earlier today when I noticed I've skipped a period. Maybe two. That set off the alarm bells initially before a couple of other things began to make sense, too."

The fact that it is only a 'maybe' still does nothing for Jughead's rising nerves with his skin becoming clammy as he struggles to breathe. In that moment, the weight of the world feels like it's coming down on him, crushing his chest slowly and painfully.

However, despite the way that he's feeling, Jughead  _knows_  that he has to try to put his wife first. After all, all the pressure and all the stress that he's feeling, she's undoubtedly feeling it too. And, more likely than not, she's feeling all of that so much more so than  _he_  is.

So, he somehow manages to take a deep breath of air, taking in the oxygen that he so desperately needs to get through this conversation as he shuffles closer to Betty's side of the bed. He wraps a strong arm around her body, pulling her limp form into his chest. Then, almost immediately he can feel the moisture from her damp cheeks seeping into his upper body.

"How are you?"

"Exhausted. We  _have_  had a lot on lately with graduating, Ethel's trial and just Emi in general. But with everything that was going on early on in my pregnancy with Emi, you know, with Jason's murder, then Polly and the two of us getting together, tiredness is really the only thing I can remember feeling before I found out that I was pregnant with Emi..."

From where she's nestled against his chest, Betty snuggles a little closer into her husband's side. She's so grateful that he's still there and that he hasn't bolted, heading for the hills. However, after everything that they have been through so far and for all that he's stayed by her side throughout, she should have greater confidence in him. She  _knows_  she should.

"But  _how_   _are_   _you_ , Betts?"

Jughead can feel Betty shift to look up at him even in the darkness. He can feel her shaking within his arms.

For the longest time, Betty just looks up to him, expressing  _exactly_  how she's feeling without a single word. He can sense the fear in his wife's eyes; the fear that they're too young, the fear that it will be too much, the fear that they won't be able to handle it and the fear that they wouldn't be able to cope with caring and providing for another child while they're still just two kids themselves.

"I'm scared, Jug. I'm just really, really scared... I can't be pregnant. Not now. I really  _can't_."

As her deepest fears fall from her lips, Betty's entire body begins to tremble and her lips start to quiver as she grows worked up and distressed, just from the idea of either making a devastating decision or preparing for their already difficult life to be many times intensified.

The thought of it alone is enough to bring tears to Betty's eyes as she curls up within Jughead's arms as he gently hushes her, brushing his hand through her golden locks soothingly. However, despite his efforts to comfort her, her pounding heart beats within her chest and her breathing grows shorter and more shallow, leaving her just about hyperventilating.

"Hey, hey... It's okay" he murmurs, holding her close and tight and hoping like hell that it's enough to help her in that moment as his own heart pounds rapidly, fearing for all the same reasons that she is.

However, he tries to remain strong and steady for her, trying to be the safe place that she needs more than ever in that moment.

"It's okay, Betts... We'll get a test tomorrow and find out for sure, one way or the other. But, whatever happens, it'll be okay...  _Everything_  will be okay."

Betty sobs as she cries into him. Her chest continues to tremble uncontrollably and her breathing is heavy and rigid as she cries through her distress.

"I can't be pregnant, Jughead. I really, really can't be... I can't make that decision. I can't  _not_  have the baby. But we can't have two kids by the time we're eighteen, either...I just can't be pregnant."

Jughead exhales a deep sigh with the sudden feeling of the weight of the world being loaded onto his shoulders. After all, he's concerned about Betty; about how much more his wife can take. But, he's  _also_  freaking out about the idea of having to a support another person on their already very minimal and very stretched budget.  _He's_  terrified by the same predicament as Betty and the thought of any outcome that would follow a 'positive'.

However, despite his own rising fears and panic, he simply presses a kiss to the top of her hair and gives Betty a squeeze of reassurance.

"We're going to be okay, Betty. We don't even know whether you're pregnant for a certainty or not. And, even if it comes to that, we have options and avenues."

Even in their darkened room Jughead can see her glassy tears that are steadily streaming down her cheeks as she looks up to him. The look on her face and the weight of the fear that she is carrying almost breaks his heart.

She is absolutely distraught.

The prospect of another child seems impossible. It would mean making an impossible decision, any which way. So, she's stuck right, bang in the middle of a lose-lose-lose situation.

After all, one alternative would involve making a horrific decision, another would involve choosing to carry two children yet only raise one, or, she and Jughead would have to face life with two kids by the time they're eighteen.

Then, in turn, she would be choosing between compromising the security, time and money for one child in order to just be able to raise another seeing as they're barely making do with Emi. Otherwise, it would mean either giving up another a baby or ending a child's life for the sake of bettering the future for their older sister.

Whatever option, it's a parent's nightmare and it's an impossible decision, when all any parent wants is to love their child with all their heart and to give them the world. Consequently, there is no ideal and there is no 'solution' in their situation.

However, while he's speaking of different avenues theoretically available to them, she is mentally slashing lines through each different option.

"If I'm pregnant, I don't have options... I couldn't do adoption; I couldn't choose one child over the other. I couldn't terminate; I couldn't do it with Emi. I couldn't do that  _to_  Emi. So, I can't do that to another baby; not a baby that  _we've_  made. Now, I know not everyone sees it this way, but I'm talking about me. If I  _am_  pregnant, Jug, then I'm sorry but I'm pregnant. I have to go through with the pregnancy."

Nodding silently, Jughead is a little surprised by the amount of relief that her words bring him. So, he presses a lingering kiss to the top of her head before he tries to hide the quiver in his voice, trying to sound strong and certain and sure of himself when he couldn't be any  _further_  from it.

"That's okay. It's okay. Tomorrow we'll find out for sure, and, no matter what tomorrow brings, we're going to handle it, Betts. We'll find a way to make it work. We're going to be okay..."

Then, as he holds her in his arms, he takes her fingers into his own hands and gives them a squeeze of reassurance.

"Just think, Betts. There'd be about the same age gap as between you and Polly... Emi could have a little sister, a little lifelong best friend, too."

Jughead's uncharacteristic little silver lining of positivity that he presents to his wife's springs the smallest of smiles to Betty's lips.

However, just as soon as her smile spreads across her lips, it disappears, being consumed by the enormous cloud of negativity that pulls it away from the weight of her mounting fears.

He can sense it; he can even feel her tighten up as her chest constricts nervously from within his arms while he holds her tight and strong.

So, despite the fact that his own mind is buzzing and his own insides are churning nauseously with nervousness, Jughead presses another gentle kiss to her temple with a gentle squeeze of reassurance as he murmurs into her locks.

"I love you" he whispers.

After all, he might not be able to convince her of the fact that they'll be okay and he might not be able to convince her of the hope that seems too good to be true that 'everything will be okay', but he'll be damned if he can't convince her of the one thing she can trust him on.

"I love you  _and_  I love our little family, Betts."

Betty trembles from within his arms, sniffling gratefully for the fact that he's still there, he's still with her and that he's still trying to face each and every one of the twists and turns that they've come across in their relationship and their marriage.

However, despite his best efforts, Betty cried herself to sleep in her husband's arms that night, telling herself to believe him and his reassurances, over and over again.

#

The following day, the fact that Betty had progressed so far into her pregnancy with Emi before it was confirmed suddenly makes the world of sense to Jughead.

After all, the night before, both of them had been up until the early hours of the morning, consumed by the suspicion and the fear that Betty had shared with her husband as they lay in bed, trying to sleep, only waking them both up even more.

However, the following morning, Betty sprung up and out of bed brightly, carrying about her day and usual routine as though the entire night before had never even happened.

In fact, she is  _so_  convincing as she presses a bright 'good morning' kiss to her husband's lips when he finally crawls downstairs to find her feeding Emi breakfast at her highchair that Jughead honestly has to stop and think about whether or not he had imagined the  _entire_  thing.

"Morning" he smiles weakly, returning her kiss as he holds her waist, looking her up and down all over as if he's silently and subconsciously checking her over for any harm. It's as though he's suddenly more protective from simply the possibility that she  _may_  be carrying his unborn child.

Then, after his search comes up blank, Jughead releases his hold on his wife's waist and takes a few steps away from her as he walks towards the highchair in front of her, pressing a kiss to their daughter's growing locks.

"Morning beautiful bubba" he coos to the baby who is currently playing with her yoghurt breakfast that she has touched more of than she has eaten.

Taking a seat beside Emi's high chair, Jughead takes the plastic spoon that had been long abandoned and wipes off the handle, scoops the nearly empty yoghurt tub and directs the spoon towards his daughter's mouth before turning his attention to her mother.

"How are you feeling today, Betts? Did you sleep okay?"

Betty looks over to him brightly, giving him an unconvincing little smile before she answers his question. However, she doesn't answer either part of the question that Jughead been expecting her to. After all, he had posed the questions to her seeing as she fallen asleep in his arms last night and also to ensure that she wasn't feeling nauseous at all, given her suspicions that she'd shared with him last night.

"I'm fine. We're good. How'd you sleep?"

"I've slept better. You?" Jughead answers coyly, looking between her and their daughter as he feeds Emi scoops of yoghurt between pulling at the plastic spoon that she's just learnt to clamp onto between her two new teeth.

Nodding from where she's flipping omelettes for them at the stove, Betty glances over to him and then back away, showing the way she's  _truly_  feeling for the briefest flicker of a moment before she switches back to the bright and shiny exterior that she's putting on, even for  _him_.

"Yeah, I'm about the same..."

The two fall to silence as Betty continues focusing on her omelette while Jughead continues fighting a losing battle against the spirited little girl who has made a game out of being fed her breakfast.

Then, after a little squeal from Emi after telling her "all gone, bubba", Jughead places the empty yoghurt tub and spoon in the sink and wiping down the yoghurt-covered highchair before picking his daughter up into his arms as he joins his wife's side.

"Look, Betts... I was thinking about it and I might do another resume drop and check out prospective jobs online, too. Even though I'm full-time at  _Pop's_ , I might be able to pick up some more work to work around my other shifts or even try and look for something that pays a little better. You see, I was thinking about it and really, it would just be nappies and food-in-mouths expenses for another child. Remember we were given a pram  _and_  a stroller for Emi, we have all Emi's hand-me-downs and I'm sure that if we offered to cover the expenses of the materials, Fred wouldn't mind making another cot for us..."

Betty's sea green eyes that look over to him almost peer straight  _through_  him.

After all, while they are both plagued with the very same issues and concerns, Jughead is tackling it head-on, jumping into the headspace of making their situation work and recovering from the idea of the worst-case scenario in order to find the solution to support his family if it comes to that.

Meanwhile, with the very same fears weighing her down, Betty is putting her reality on the backburner, pushing it to the back of her mind as she tries her hardest to put it aside and just forget about it, acting like nothing's wrong.

For someone who lives to face things head-on, Betty certainly likes to put the most life changing things to the very back.

After a minute passes without her saying anything in acknowledgement of his plans, Jughead runs a hand down her arm, taking her hand into his own, ever so gently.

"Look, if you're okay to look after bubba for a bit after breakfast, I'll dash out and pick us up a test. We need to know, Betts..."

In the silence, Jughead bounces his daughter on his hip nervously, grasping for her little hand as she reaches up for his beanie. Meanwhile, Betty just stands there, turning off the stovetop and plating up their omelettes. Once again, she almost outright ignores him until she inhales a deep, rigid breath and exhales it just as a tear slides down her cheek, too.

"I don't want to take the test because I don't want it to be positive. I don't want to have to face it."

This time, Jughead sighs for her, hurting for her, after all that she's been through. A part of him knows what she means. A part of him understands the temptation that lies with denial.

After all, you can't face something that you don't know about. However, the fatal flaw lies in the fact that they  _do_  know about it, but it is encompassed by a great, big, hazy question mark.

"We aren't going to be able to move past this until we know, Betty. We need to be able to face this and come to terms with it  _or_  we need to just shelve it as a scare and move on."

Inhaling a shaky breath, Betty looks down to the ground as her husband's arms run up and down hers in a feeble attempt to reassure her.

"No, you're right, Juggie... God, I don't want this to be real, but either way we need to face it."

#

Jughead times his departure with Emi's nap time, leaving just as she begins to rub at her eyes and slowly yawn between playing with her toy.

So, knowing that it could take up to an hour for Betty to give Emi a feed and get her to sleep, he hopes that quickly dashing down to the store now and just before she's put down for her nap will give the two of them some uninterrupted time between Emi's nap and before the Cooper's would return home from work.

He'd then come home in record time, racing back in the front door to find Betty sitting on the rocking chair in Emi's room, rocking back and forth with their daughter who had fallen asleep against the comfort of her mother's body.

"Hey" he whispers quietly, standing in the doorframe momentarily, absorbing the beauty and tenderness between mother and daughter in that moment, stopping to allow himself to catch his breath and focus on a positive for the briefest, much-needed moment.

He slowly walks over, creeping over as quietly as he can with the very smallest of smiles curling on the corner of his lips. He leans down, pressing a kiss to the top of his wife's head lovingly before his gaze turns to the beautiful baby sleeping in her arms, stroking his daughter's chubby cheek ever-so gently with the pad of his thumb.

Meanwhile, upon seeing the box in her husband's hand, Betty's breath hitches within her as reality creeps that little bit closer, making it harder and harder to ignore.

Then, placing the box on Emi's change-table, Jughead holds his arms out to take the sleeping infant from his wife, scooping their daughter up into his arms and pressing a kiss to her temple as she stirs briefly with her eyes clenched shut before relaxing into his arms once again, undisturbed, as he carries her over to her nearby cot.

In their silent switch, Betty picks up the box that her husband had put down as he stands over their daughter's cot, watching on and ensuring that she's settled back down completely and won't be waking up abruptly if they leave the room straight away.

Betty knows that if she waits even just two minutes more, she'd have him right by her side all of the way. However, perhaps  _that_  is why Betty is quick to grab the box and head for the upstairs bathroom  _before_  he has a chance to follow behind her and  _before_  she loses her nerve completely.

However, hearing his wife moving towards the door of their daughter's room pricks Jughead's head up attentively as his eyes fall to her, filled with concern.

"Betts... I love you. Whatever that piece of plastic is going to tell us, we're going to be okay, alright? We'll be alright. I'll be right there with you."

He  _will_ be right there, both in a minute or so's time, but also for the rest of their lives and the rest of their journey together...

#

A painful ten minute wait brings the two of them to where they are now; sitting together and holding each other with Betty nestled into his chest as he rests his chin on her head, holding her close and tight within his arms.

He can just about  _feel_  her heartbeat racing from where she's pressed against him, but he's fairly certain that she could say the same for him.

"What's the time?" Betty murmurs eventually after what feels like more like ten years than ten minutes.

They hadn't set a timer. Neither of them thought their nerves could handle it. After all, it's like waiting for a toaster to pop. So, rather, he had set his eyes glued on the clock on the bedside table beside his side of the bed.

"Nearly there" he replies, his eyes watching and waiting for the minute to flick over as he's expecting it to any moment now while he counts down the remaining seconds.

Then, despite their stress and their nerves that are rising and multiplying with every second, out of nowhere, Betty begins to giggle.

As his eyes fly down to his wife, Jughead watches her inquisitively, trying to work out what's changed and what joke he's missing out on.

" _What_? What's so funny?"

"Did you know that that's the first time I've ever taken a pregnancy test?"

The small laugh followed by Betty's surprising piece of trivia is almost like a nervous reaction and a coping mechanism in the tense moment. Nonetheless, it's a surprising titbit given that Betty's firstborn is fast asleep in the room beside their own.

" _Really_?"

"Yeah, even though I had a pretty good idea that I was pregnant with Emi long before it was confirmed, I dodged it for so long that I never took a test. It was only confirmed at the hospital when my blood tests came back after I passed out at school that day."

Jughead's face pricks with interest at the little fact that had been a momentary distraction for both of them. Then, when he looks back over to the clock on their bedside table, he inhales a sharp breath and gives his wife's body a squeeze from within his own.

"It's time, Betts..."

While she had been giggling barely a minute earlier, after Jughead's three, little words, everything within her either constricts, pounds or tightens as she fights through her rapidly increasing nerves, standing up and slowly walking over to the set of drawers on the other side of the room before taking the paper-towelled piece of plastic into her hands with a deep and shaky breath.

"Are you alright? Do you want me to do it?" Jughead asks, joining her by her side, gently pressing a hand to the small of her back with concern.

When Betty shakes her head in response, Jughead initially isn't too certain which question she's answering. However, the answer becomes clear as she takes another deep breath before folding back the paper towel to expose the answer that is hiding within; the answer that has the potential to change their life and turn their world upside down, all over again...

Then, with a sharp inhale of air, Betty turns to her husband with her sea-green eyes big and bright as she looks up to him.

"It's negative... It was just a false alarm."

Jughead just nods, leaning down to press a kiss to the very top of her head as he pulls her into his arms for a tight hug, looking down at the test that he almost needs to see for himself to believe. Then, there's a sudden flood of relief and his lungs just about collapse as he releases the breath that he hadn't even realised that he was holding in.

However, that sense of relief is quickly replaced with a sinking sensation as emptiness fills the void of relief, leaving behind a pang of  _sadness_?

As he holds his wife in his arms, running his hands up and down her back, Jughead is thinking it through, over and over, contemplating whether or not to say anything. However, hearing the little sniffle coming from against his chest, Jughead presses another kiss to the top of her golden locks, preparing to speak up openly and honestly about what he's  _really_ feeling, in case she's feeling the same way, too.

"I must say, it's a relief not to have another mouth to feed and provide for quite so soon. But, I honestly would have been  _happy_ , Betts. Now that the pressure's off, I see that now. That baby would have been wanted and loved, no matter what. It would have been damn hard work and I'm sure it would have felt near-impossible at times, but it would have been nice for Emi to have a sibling so close in age to her, almost like a little twin."

Again, there's another quiet little sniffle from against his chest as Betty shifts a little, turning her gaze upwards to look at him.

"I know what you mean. I know  _exactly_  what you mean... It's beyond absolutely all sense and reason, but there's a teeny tiny part of me that's just a little bit disappointed."

He presses another kiss to her head, pursing his lips against her temple this time as he gives her a little squeeze of comfort from within his arms.

"Same... But, it's okay. It'll happen again down the track. And, when that time comes, we'll be ready. But, for the time being, we've got one beautiful baby girl to keep us busy. Besides, I don't know how happy Ems would be to have the spotlight stolen away from her quite so soon."

Releasing the smallest chuckle as she swipes at her damp eye, Betty collapses into her husband's arms, melting into the comfort he provides as she succumbs to the feeling of total  _exhaustion_.

After all, they've felt it  _all_  together, in just a matter of hours.

They'd gone from worked up with stress, to riddled with relief, to panged with disappointment and right now Jughead had known just what to say to get them to at peace as his wife giggles into him, soothed after the rollercoaster of emotions.

While they're both looking forward to 'one day' they are beyond grateful for and enjoy the moment that come with  _today_...

#

The scare that day had been put down to something as simple as her hormones being messed around, no doubt given the stress that they've barely had a chance to escape from over the last eighteen months. After all in the weeks ahead of that day would mark the beginning of the court proceedings and the inquest into Chuck's death, with Betty due to be taking the stand.

It wouldn't have been ideal and it didn't turn out to be, but they would have made it through, they would have been happy and they would have made it through together, as a family.

After all, as they've proven through every other challenge and trial that's been thrown their way, Jughead and Betty can do anything  _together,_ coming out the other end, stronger for it.

However, in that moment as they stand together in their bedroom, neither Jughead nor Betty knew that while they may have just dodged one bullet, only one year on they will be once again faced with a similar situation, just with a  _different_  test result on the piece of plastic next time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of the first one! I know there was a few people who loved the idea of Betty & Jughead having another baby while others were nervous for them. I hope you all liked the fact that the outcome actually turned out to be a little bit of a medium between the two. I didn't want such a cliffhanger to be for nothing, but I did want to buy them a tiny little bit of time before then. So while it was just a scare for now, I tried to make it clear that there certainly will be another baby soon.
> 
> While this story and the chronology will be quite free-form, I do have the first few chapters planned out/written to lay a bit of a groundwork and base for future one-shots to spring from. Also, lots of room to accommodate requests with this one. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see for Bughead!
> 
> Next one-shot will be Betty and Jug's first wedding anniversary.
> 
> Tumblr: riverheadcf for sneak peeks.


	2. One

**2\. One**

"Happy anniversary, wifey."

Betty wakes up with a smile on her face and her husband by her side that morning, marking exactly one year since her wedding day.

"Happy anniversary, Jughead" she returns, tilting her head upwards to press a kiss to her husband's lips. "I love you."

The festivities and celebrations had begun the previous night when the Coopers left in the early afternoon to spend the weekend with Polly and the twins. Betty's parents had taken Emi along with them to spend the weekend with her cousins who are just three months older than her, consequently giving Betty and Jughead some alone time and the house to themselves as part of Alice and Hal's gift for their daughter and son-in-laws first wedding anniversary.

Speaking of little Emi, she has been growing and changing a lot of late, with her first birthday coming up just next week, the week after her parent's wedding anniversary.

Just lately, Jughead and Betty's daughter has been changing and developing into more of a toddler than a newborn. Ever more so, they're realising that their little girl is filled with sweetness and spunk.

She loves games and she loves being played with. She loves company, even if it's just being in the same room as her parents over being left to play alone. She loves baths, she loves nap-time. She loves it as Jughead throws her up in the air and when Betty blows raspberries as she changes her after her bath. She loves excitement, she loves being tickled or teased and she loves basically any TV show  _other_  than children's ones intended for her own age demographic.

Just lately she won't stop bellowing out for 'ma ma ma maaaa' or 'daaaaaa' while Alice is absolutely  _convinced_  that she had heard her granddaughter mumble something along the lines of 'nana' earlier that week.

While Jughead had been glad for his wife that Emi had started saying 'mama' first a good few months ago now, he couldn't help but feel just a  _little_  bit jealous that Emi started saying 'dada' second, around a fortnight after her very first word.

However, Jughead had been thrilled when the score had been evened just a little more last week when Emi had taken her very first steps away from the baby-proofed coffee table that she'd been standing up against and  _towards_  him.

So, while the young couple are thrilled with the prospect of having an entire weekend together,  _alone_ , there is no denying that it had been agony for the two of them to say goodbye to their daughter the night before with many, many hugs and kisses as they secured her in her car seat of the Coopers wagon and they both waved the car off. They'd stood there with Jughead rubbing Betty's back through her sniffles and tears as she tried to keep her smile up while they waved to their oblivious baby.

However, despite the difficulty of the goodbye and the fact it was the greatest distance between them and their daughter yet, Betty and Jughead had been able to distract themselves with their time home alone, learning to appreciate that sacred time knowing that their baby would be back with them before they knew it...

"One whole year, hey?" he smiles, running a hand through her golden locks as he starts with tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Best year of my life."

Smiling from both his touch and his words, Betty strokes a finger up and down his chest as she returns his comments with her own heartfelt and meaningful praise for him.

"Same, Juggie, same... You honestly helped me to come back from the worst year of my life."

With a small smile, Jughead can't help but be glad that he had been able to help her through such a horrific year. However, his stomach  _still_  churns while his blood boils just at the thought of what she had been through and the scars that she'd been left with.

No words he can say even comes close to being consolation enough over what she is referring to. So he doesn't even try. Instead, he wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his arms as he presses kisses into her hair, over and over again from where he holds her close and tight.

"You are the most incredible wife, mother and woman, Betts. Every single day I marvel at you and your strength. Every single day I only fall deeper and deeper in love with you."

Beaming under his praise towards her, Betty reaches up from where he is holding her arms, gently holding his face in her own hands as she presses a deep kiss to his lips, stroking his cheeks with her thumbs even after she pulls away.

"Thank you. Thank you for everything you've done for me... For being such a wonderful husband, for being Emi's father. Thank you for everything you've done for us and our family. God, I just love you so much, Jug..."

The wide smiles can't be wiped off of either of their faces as they bask in their embrace with each other, cuddled up as closely as they can be.

However, just when Jughead is about to reduce the distance between them and make a move to proposition her as they lay there together in bed, she hesitantly sits up and peels herself away from the warmth of her bed and the comfort of her husband with a begrudging sigh.

"Where are you going?" Jughead whines, frowning at the interruption to their morning together.

"Just relocating to the shower. Then, I want to make you the best breakfast you have ever eaten in your life."

With a disappointed " _Oh"_ and a little sigh, Betty turns back and looks towards her husband who is failing abysmally at hiding his sulking from where she had left him on their bed. Then, as she stops in the doorway abruptly, she looks at him with a grin.

"Oh, that was an  _invitation_ , babe..."

Without another word, the covers go flying off Jughead as he scurries off to join his wife with the biggest grin.

#

Before leaving the house for their anniversary lunch Jughead and Betty had decided to trade their gifts for each other, with each other.

She'd found him a beautiful leather satchel, arranging to have his name embossed into the front flap, with 'Love always, Mrs. Jughead Jones' printed on the internal side of the same flap – the side that is predominantly for  _his_  eyes only.

Meanwhile, he'd brought her to tears with his heartfelt gift that fit inside a medium-sized jewellery box, with the idea of carrying their little family around with her everywhere, on her wrist.

He'd bought her a Pandora bracelet, along with just a few charms. The first was a diamond encrusted love heart charm, with the date of their wedding anniversary engraved on the other side. The second sitting beside it was a simple little diamond encrusted crown charm. Then, the final charm was another little diamond encrusted charm, though this time it's just a simple 'E'.

They'd also been spoilt with gifts and luxuries from their friends and family, too, namely their parents with hers taking their daughter away in order for them to spend the weekend together in the house to themselves while his father had been gradually putting money aside to work towards gifting the two of them a decent amount for their first anniversary.

Also, the day before Veronica had had an enormously extravagant bouquet of flowers that they were genuinely worried would not make it through doorways delivered, accompanied by a simple little note: ' _I know I'm a day early – figure you two lovebirds wouldn't want any interruptions tomorrow. Love your favourite maid of honour xx.'_

Archie too had given his best friend's his anniversary gift to them the day before, likely as advised by his girlfriend with a similar reason to her own. Under the guise of just 'brushing up on and making sure he kept up with his carpentry skills', Archie had made Jughead and Betty a stunning, custom dining setting.

After all, not long ago he'd been talking to Jughead about his hopes that they'd be able to afford at least a very small, very modest home of their own within the next six to twelve months, given the rate that he and Betty have been trying to save up madly for it. So, as a result, he'd crafted the first piece of furniture for the home that his best friends are working towards, offering to keep it in his father's garage until they needed it.

However, while their friends and families gifts to them had been both incredibly touching and generous, there was one other little gift that had without doubt been the most  _surprising_.

That title went to the gift from Emi that had been delivered the day before, along with a little card stating: ' _Happy anniversary mummy and daddy. Love, Emi xox'_  in a  _curiously_  similar font to the one that had accompanied Veronica's flowers...

#

When the young couple finally stumble out of the Cooper home together, their arms are wrapped around each other's backs as they walk along together like a couple of school kids while they giggle and whisper throughout their short walk to  _Pop's_  where they'd decided to have their anniversary dinner.

They had contemplated splashing out and having a special meal at an establishment far nicer than one you'd ever find in Riverdale with the money that FP had been putting aside for them as an anniversary present, telling them to 'treat yourselves'. However, instead the young couple had opted for a simple meal at  _Pop's_  that they knew wouldn't fail them, deciding to put the rest of the money into their savings to accumulate and work towards a home that they've been working towards of late.

Besides, it felt right to have their anniversary meal at the diner that was the very heart of Riverdale, right where they'd decided to have their wedding reception exactly one year ago.

Upon finally arriving at  _Pop's_  after a lazy and carefree stroll to the local diner, the celebrating couple are immediately greeted by Pop Tate who quickly whisks them over to the very same table that they had sat at together exactly one year ago today, with a warm smile on his face.

"Happy first anniversary, kids."

Touched by their beloved diner owner's gesture and the fact that he remembered their wedding date seeing as they'd chosen to move celebrations after the ceremony to his diner, Betty only feels even more moved by the little 'reserved' sign on the table along with the small arrangement of flowers placed in the very center of that table and only that table.

"Oh, Pop Tate... This is wonderful, thank you" Betty smiles, opening her arms out to give the older man a grateful hug before she takes a seat at the table, followed by her husband after he too thanks the diner owner.

"How could I possibly forget the anniversary of my most valued customers, who chose to eat at  _my_  diner on the most important day of their lives?"

Smiling up at the man who has served them many a plates of food and drink over the years, they both thank him gratefully as he offers to serve them up as much as they want to eat of whatever they want to eat, on the house. Honestly, it's hard to pick who between the three of them is  _more_  excited about the fact that Jughead and Betty had decided to have their anniversary lunch at  _Pop's_.

However, while he's thrilled to greet Betty and Jughead at first, Pop Tate is quick to then scurry off again and leave the young couple to their own company during the anniversary lunch.

With personal space being a foreign concept as they sit there together, sharing 'their' booth at  _Pop's,_  Betty is just about sitting on Jughead's lap. The young couple are so, completely and utterly consumed by their love for each other that they barely even notice the plates of food that are placed down in front of them on regular intervals, not stopping for food breaks as they talk and giggle and kiss and feed each other, feeling thankful that it's not school holidays with the other customers in  _Pop's_  being few and old enough to appreciate the display as 'young love'.

Honestly, if they were seeing themselves from the outside looking in, Jughead would be repulsed and Betty would be mortified. However, with their daughter playing with her two cousins a few hours away and with the two of them celebrating their first wedding anniversary feeling like two fools who are completely and utterly in love, they allow themselves to enjoy the moment and the fact that they've made it this far after a nightmare year, enjoying a few moments of feeling like they're acting their age, rather than the young parents and husband and wife they are that have had to grow up so much faster than their friends.

So, as they sit there, immersed in each others company, there might as well be no one else in that diner, in that area and in that town as far as they're concerned, with eyes for no one else but each other, enraptured with their absolute, whole-hearted and consuming love for one another.

However, Betty and Jughead enjoy every single little moment from within their little bubble...

#

As they share a doona that is wrapped around them both from where they're entangled within each other on the windowsill of their bedroom, Betty and Jughead share a punnet of ice-cream, taking turns with the spoon and teasing each other with stolen mouthfuls.

The young couple are sitting there so completely and utterly absorbed with each other within the little haven of their bedroom as candles burn beside the anniversary bouquet that Veronica had forked out on while the playlist of songs that had been played throughout their wedding reception one year ago plays quietly in the background.

"I've had the best day with you, Juggie" Betty says to her husband in little more than a whisper, followed by a contented sigh.

A smile purses Jughead's lips for the countless time today. The smile lingers on his lips as he tucks a loose strand of his wife's golden locks behind her ear before leaning down to press a firm kiss to her lips that is filled with a blissful mix of familiarity and wholehearted love as he returns her compliment.

"I've had the best  _year_  with you."

She just gives him a touched little smile that shines as brightly through her eyes as it does on her lips. Then, as she hands him back the punnet after her last scoop, Betty's head collapses onto her husband's chest just as he sets the ice-cream beside them on the windowsill where they're cuddled up together.

At first she's a little put-off by the fact that he shifts from below her, just as she is sinking into his body. However, she is then very quickly riddled with confusion as he holds a hand out to her with a coy smile, until a spark of recognition fills her face as she realises the song that is currently playing in the background, only confirmed by his question to her.

"May I have this dance, Mrs. Jones?"

As she allows him to bring her to her feet, a smile spreads over her lips while she slowly runs a hand across his chest as he begins to lead their slow dance to ' _L-O-V-E'_.

"Aw, it's our song..." Betty murmurs as her head collapses to rest against her husband's chest again as she allows him to guide the two of them as they slow dance around their small bedroom to the very same song that they had at their wedding as they danced their first dance.

Jughead just affirms her statement with a small smile as he presses a loving kiss to her forehead while he guides her body with his as his hand clutches her closely to him.

After slow-dancing their way through their song from their first dance which is then followed by another three, Betty eventually shifts her gaze from where her head is resting against his chest to allow her to look up at him intently with her big, emerald green orbs seeking an honest answer to her question.

"Tell me honestly, Jug. Have you ever regretted it? Getting married  _so_  young? Tying yourself down?"

Betty is asking him that question with more than just a little hesitation, fearing the unknown answer that she may receive but knowing that it's an answer that she  _needs_  to know either way.

However, Jughead doesn't need to stop and think about the question she's asking him. After all, his answer's coming from a very different part of him than his head; it's coming from is heart.

"Not even for a single minute. I love you, Betty. You and our family are my life -my  _whole_  world- and I wouldn't have it any other way."

As his words tingle and send butterflies through her stomach, Betty's heart swells with warmth and love for her husband as she stands up and holds herself against his body to press a lingering, loving kiss to his lips, finally pulling away with a radiant smile that just beams throughout Betty entirely. She couldn't smile much more if she  _tried_. Then, he leans down a little to press a kiss of his own to her lips, sharing her smile that he can't wipe from his face either.

"Thank you for marrying me, Mrs. Jones."

Running her hand across his chest she presses a single kiss to his jawline as they continue dancing, ever so slowly, gracing their bedroom floor.

"Thank  _you_  for  _everything_ , Mr. Jones... Here's to the rest of our lives."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has joined along with this story! I hope you'll all enjoy the ongoing journey with the Jones family. I'd love to know what you all think of this fluffy little anniversary, too. 
> 
> Next one: Jughead's got a little surprise for Betty...


	3. Home

**3\. Home**

In the blink of an eye the days, the weeks and the months had moved on until it's just over eight months since their pregnancy scare and four since their first wedding anniversary, which had been followed by little Emi's first birthday the week afterwards.

At sixteen months old now, Emi has been keeping Betty and Jughead on their toes with the discovery that their daughter is 'a climber'. The infant has been growing more confidence and speed now that she's been walking for a few months, moving her to try to expand her horizons and tackle higher obstacles whenever and wherever she can.

Meanwhile, eight months on from their pregnancy scare, Jughead and Betty had learnt from it as their life slowly began to die down. They'd used it as a reminder of the fact that they had become all too familiar with over the last two years; that no one knows exactly what is around the corner. Consequently, the fear that they'd felt in that moment had ended up giving them the added push to continue working towards their future and doing their best to provide for little Emi.

As a result, they have trying to save even harder than they had been and they were actively taking steps to work towards finding a place of their own by getting a feel for rentals in Riverdale, visiting open days and keeping a closer eye on property listings.

There was no real rush knowing that the Coopers had affirmed the fact that the young family were welcome with them as long as they needed, provided that they were working towards getting their lives set up, However, Jughead and Betty both knew that they needed to come out from under the security of her parents and truly set their family up sooner rather than later.

So, in the days, weeks and months that had followed, Jughead worked hard to get as much money behind them as they could while Betty did her absolute best in managing that money, spending little more on anything other than the essentials and bills they'd receive in that time.

As a result, when Jughead returns home to his in-laws house one typical Tuesday afternoon he finds his wife in the laundry with her hair thrown up messily, wearing remnants of Emi's lunch on her clothes as she does the washing for her family.

"I have a surprise for you."

Having not heard any sign of her husband's return home for the day until he speaks up from where he's leaning against the doorway with a smirk on his face Betty releases a gasp, clutching at her heart from the fright.

"Oh, Jug. You scared me.  _That_  was a surprise in itself..." Betty chuckles nervously, trying to steady her racing heart as she throws the last item into the machine, filling it with powder and setting it up to wash before she turns her full attention to her husband. "Now, what kind of surprise are we talking? It better not be anything  _too_  great. My parents will be home any minute now."

Chuckling to himself as he reads between the lines of her last remark, Jughead takes a step towards her as she does the same to him. Then, he hands her a piece of paper that just leaves her looking up at him curiously.

"Jug? What is this?"

"It's a lease... It's a lease for 19 Grove Avenue. I put our application in. We got it. All we have to do is sign on the dotted line, baby."

For the longest time and with her mouth that has dropped open in shock, Betty gawks at her husband as she looks between him and the piece of paper that he has just handed her.

After all, without her even realising it, Jughead had seen just how much Betty had fallen in love with the house that they'd looked through the previous weekend. He'd seen her face when they'd been shown the vintage architraves and the cosy nooks throughout the home that was the perfect size for a growing family along with the large backyard that was covered in lawn with a big maple tree that hid a tree-house within it in the corner.

However when they'd heard the price that they'd need to outlay each week for rent, Betty had hung her head, pursed her lips and tried her best to conceal her disappointment as she worked on trying to extinguish her own hopes.

" _How_?! I thought it was over our budget... I didn't think we'd be able to make the rent with our budget."

Although he can see the look on her face and the twinkling of hope that is just aching to burst free, Jughead can see that Betty is still holding herself back from the idea as she waits to see what he has to tell her in case she needs to make the tough call if they really  _can't_  afford it.

So, in an attempt to try and reassure her as best he can, Jughead takes another step closer to her, taking her free hand and entangling his within as he looks straight in the eye.

"I've done a fair bit of number crunching this past week. I've found things we can do to cut back even more in a few little ways. I also worked out that if I have an earlier start just once a week, then it'll be enough to cover it without too much difficulty. I've already mentioned that to Pop Tate and he's given it the okay."

Then after spending a moment looking into his eyes intently after he's finished speaking, all of a sudden and with a squeal of joy, Betty launches herself into her husband's arms, kissing him roughly anywhere and everywhere she can.

"I love you-I love you-I love you- I love you. You got us a  _house_!"

However, all of a sudden, Betty stops and she pauses. Her excitement seems to evaporate into thin air as tears fill her eyes almost instantly. All of a sudden what had been thrilling just moments ago is now emotional as her big green eyes look up to him with so much joy and even more love.

"We're going to have our  _own_  home, Jug... Our families first  _home_."

Jughead can't hide his own smile, making himself even happier at their shared joy upon seeing her happiness. So, he just wraps his arms around her, holding her close and tight as he presses kisses into her hair while she clings to him, embracing him as they share this monumental moment in their lives together.

Then, as she releases her arms from his waist, she reaches up to wrap them around his neck as she drapes herself around him, revoking what she'd told her husband just minutes earlier as she mutters four words before her lips come crashing onto his.

"Never mind my parents."

#

Just two weeks later, the formalities had been carried out, the paperwork had been completed, the lease had been signed and Jughead and Betty had been handed the key to their very first home.

Then, with the entirety of the eighteen and nineteen years of their lives packed the boxes, they'd transferred their belongings over to the small home with an enormous amount of help from their friends and family.

Alice and Veronica had offered their babysitting services, both willing to look after Emi for the young couple. Meanwhile, their fathers along with Archie and Fred had offered brawn, carrying boxes and furniture over as they moved, helping Jughead and Betty to set themselves up their new home.

Unfortunately, the timing of the move had coincided with Emi going through an especially clingy phase towards both Jughead and Betty, but her mother especially. So, Alice and then Veronica had had their work cut out for them. As soon as her parents left, little Emi was completely inconsolable for the first hour after her parents closed the door behind them. Then, only after spending the first hour upset and looking around the unfamiliar homes for the familiarity of her mum and dad would Emi allow herself to be entertained by the stockpile of children's toys at Alice's or by the silly faces that Veronica would pull.

Then, when the end of moving day  _finally_  came and after they went through their little ' _thanks for helping, we'll have you over for dinner soon'_  spiels followed by the final ' _enjoy the house'_  from Archie as he leaves, the little family all crash the second that they are down to the three of them.

As he cuddles Emi who looks like she might be ready for a sleep from where he's laying sprawled out on their nice lounge that they'd picked up in fantastic condition second-hand, Jughead too looks like he's growing just as lethargic as their daughter.

Meanwhile, having just finished putting away the final box of kitchen utensils and dining-ware, Betty exhales an exhausted sigh, walking over to the lounge where her husband and daughter are snuggled into each other with a loving smile on her face.

"Look at you two..." Betty coos, running her hand through her husband's dark locks as she watches her daughter suckle at her thumb (a habit that they've been trying to break) from where she's standing beside the two of them.

"What do you want to do for dinner, babe?  _Pop's_? I had some stupidly high hopes of cooking tonight but I don't think I physically could."

With one eye opening to look up at her, Jughead counters her suggestion with a different offer.

"Nah... Seeing as Riverdale's still a way off of UberEats,  _Pop's_  would mean having to leave the house. Pizza? We can get that delivered."

Shuddering at the realisation of what her husband has just pointed out to her and the horrific idea of needing to leave the house for her suggestion, Betty is quick to agree with his idea.

"Pizza sounds good. The usual? I'll order it."

"The usual  _and_  garlic bread. We're celebrating tonight, baby."

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head to herself as she steps out of the room and pulls her phone out of her pocket, Betty is tempted to tease him about how tight they're supposed to be fastening their belts in order to be able afford the roof that's over their heads. However, she realises that he's right, that they are celebrating and tomorrow onwards they can begin to control any holes in their hands.

So, dialling Riverdale's local pizzeria, Betty places their usual order of a half Hawaiian, half supreme pizza along with a serving of garlic bread. As she proudly gives the voice over the phone the delivery address of '19 Grove Avenue', Betty can't help the little smile on her face as she nips at her lip .

After ordering the pizza, Betty joins her little family in the small living room, taking a seat in the single-seater beside the small lounge where Jughead's laying down with Emi atop his chest.

By the time there's a loud knock at the door, each member of the family of three are all very nearly aslee. However, they all jolt awake at the sudden noise.

Betty is the first to get up, grabbing her purse as she heads for the door while Emi begins to whimper from the rude awakening, nestling her head into her father's shoulder for comfort from the fright.

By the time that Betty thanks the delivery-man and closes the door behind her, bringing the two pizza boxes and the garlic bread into the room, Emi is just settling down as she shuffles herself off of Jughead and the lounge and onto the floor.

Then, leaving the boxes on the floor that the eighteen-month-old heads for like a moth to a flame, Betty goes and gathers plates for the three of them, along with serviettes, cutlery and a large picnic mat that she sets up in the middle of the lounge room. Meanwhile, Jughead tackles with their daughter and her speedy little fingers for the boxes of food that she's got her sights set on, snatching the little girl up and distracting her with tickles as Betty straightens out the picnic rug on the floor until she's finished cutting crust-less little Emi-sized pieces of pizza before Jughead finally sets her down.

With a little gasped 'ooooh' at her sudden plate of food that leaves Betty and Jughead can't hide their smile as they look to each other while Emi heads straight for her meal. Betty then hands Jughead his plate as he attacks the pizza boxes almost as quickly as Emi is attacking her own food.

Sitting down so closely beside her husband that she might as well be sitting on his lap, Betty grabs her own slice of pizza and piece of garlic bread, smiling to herself as she looks between her babbling daughter who is gnawing on her pizza and her husband who is watching the little girl eat.

Then, as his gaze turns to Betty beside him, Jughead notes his wife's smile on her face as she looks between him and their baby.

"What do you think you're smiling at?"

Reaching out to give his hand a squeeze within hers, Betty can't wipe the smile of her face as she confides in him over her beaming expression and the joy that is evident in her shining eyes, her radiant cheeks and her smiling face.

"Us; our little family and our little house... I'm just appreciating how good we have it."

Jughead returns his wife's smile. The feeling of joy is mutual.

Then, reaching out to tickle Emi's little belly from where she's now playing with her food, Jughead then presses a kiss to the top of his wife's hair as he smiles at the two, beautiful girls in his life.

"Welcome home, girls."

#

Later that night after Emi has been bathed and put to bed and once Betty and Jughead have washed themselves fresh from the grime of moving only to give their new room a test run, they find themselves cuddled up together in the darkness of their bedroom in their first home together.

"I have no idea where  _that_  burst of energy came from" Betty mumbles into her husband's bare chest from where she is resting her head on him.

With a little smirk playing on his lips as he gently runs his hands through her golden locks, Jughead can't help himself.

"Well, I've  _only_  spent the last fifteen years trying to convince you of the fact that pizza is magic food, Mrs. Jones..."

Betty can't stop herself from giggling into her husband at his remark as she snuggles deeper into his body.

Catching each other's eye the young couple then have a little silent game of ping-pong while each other's grins and smiles bounce back and forth as they look to each other, with the smiles increasing on their own lips.

However, once they are finally released from the addictive trance in one another, they just lay there cuddling up in complete comfort and security as they grow sleepier and sleepier.

In fact, Jughead's eyes are drawing closed as he soothingly runs his hands up and down Betty's bare back until she speaks up from where stroking his chest as she's snuggled into his body, whispering a truth into the night that she wants him to know...

"Jug? Just so you know, I didn't need a  _house_  to feel like I'm  _at home_  with you..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you all liked this one. Don't forget to drop a comment and let me know what you thought and if you'd like to see some more. 
> 
> Next one: Jughead and Betty discover alone-time is not necessarily more peaceful in their own home, Jughead makes a late-night discovery, and FP discovers eBay.


	4. Nightlife

**4\. Nightlife**

"She's down."

Betty murmurs the two words as she exhales an exhausted sigh of relief, strolling out to where Jughead is hovering in the doorway, checking through his emails on his phone.

He'd been planning to make a start on the dishes while Betty bathed their daughter before reading her to sleep, however he hadn't managed to get that far. So, Jughead's head pricks up from where he'd been focusing on his phone, sending her a small smile from across the room before his face creases up regretfully.

"Damn. Sorry, I was going to do the dishes and clean up while you were putting Ems down."

Crossing the room sluggishly, Betty glances over to the damage done by tonight's apricot chicken with a little wince before shrugging Jughead's apology off.

"Don't stress, they're not going anywhere" she mumbles as she wraps her arms around her husband, sinking into his body as they stand together in the middle of their small home.

Returning the embrace, wrapping is own arms around her smaller frame, Jughead holds her against him, pressing a kiss into her hair as they just stand there, enjoying the moment together in total peace and silence.

However, after a few moments of standing there silently, Betty begins to squirm from within her husband's arms, reaching up and extending herself on her tippy toes to press a kiss to his lips. He notices her efforts and what she's attempting to do, meeting her halfway as their kiss is followed by another, and another, and another.

As their moment begins to grow a little more heated, Jughead simultaneously begins to entangle their hands as his fingers curl around her own while he deepens their kiss, taking a few small steps to lead the two of them towards their bedroom at the front of their home.

Betty goes along with it for as long as she can before she has to pull herself from him after one more kiss, followed by a groan.

"Oh, babe, I can't... If I go to bed now, I won't be able to get back up again. As Alice Cooper's offspring I'm physically incapable of leaving the dishes for tomorrow. I need to clean up first."

Betty's groan is followed by a similar sounding one from her husband as he slumps his head on her shoulder for a moment before pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Do you want a hand? The sooner we get them done..."

Betty chuckles at her husband's remark as he fights off his agitation.

"Don't let me ruin the moment, Jug" she coos, running her hands up and down his arms. "Let's just move it to the lounge and I'll do the dishes a little later before we head to bed."

Betty doesn't need to say another word before he's leading them over to the lounge, where they are quick to collapse down on as he pulls her along with him with a gentle tug of her wrist followed by a squeal. Realising the noise that had escaped from her lips leaves them still in the silence, sitting there upright, cautiously still and silent for a few minutes, desperately hoping that the sudden burst of noise won't lead to cries from Emi's room.

Thankfully the noise doesn't seem to wake Emi from a few rooms over and the two of them pick up where they left off, kissing each other over and over with little giggles and grins throughout as the moment continues growing more and more heated.

However, just as Jughead begins to move to her neck, the two of them are interrupted by a double ding of a message from Betty's pocket.

"Ignore it" he mumbles, not letting himself lose any focus from his fixation on his wife as he presses kisses to her skin.

Betty willingly complies, not even looking at her phone as she runs a hand up through Jughead's dark locks that have been exposed from his beanie; the security blanket that he doesn't need with his girls.

The text is quickly forgotten until another two messages come through within moments, just a few seconds later, followed by another, leaving Betty biting her lip and trying to muffle her giggle while Jughead blocks the tone out from his mind, successfully.

A few more minutes pass before being alerted to a fourth and fifth then a sixth and seventh message that come through, interrupting the couple yet again.

However, this time Betty pauses and pulls away, placing their moment on hold, yet again.

"Hold on babe" Betty murmurs, pressing a gentle hand to her husband's chest as she reaches for her phone that's tucked into her pocket while her own chest rises and falls breathlessly. "It's unusual for someone to text so many times without a reason. It might be an emergency."

Pulling her phone out, she quickly finds that the messages are all from one person, with several similar messages consisting of a link then a sweet little message from her father-in-law to accompany it.

"Where's the fire? Who's dying?" Jughead grumbles, displeased with whoever might be interrupting their alone time and for whatever reason that may be for.

"It's your dad... He's just sent me a few more links."

While Betty is even reading through her messages, another link followed by a personal message from FP comes through alerting both of them to the notification.

"Is he on eBay  _again_? You've created a monster, Betts. You've unleashed the damn shopaholic in my father."

Betty chuckles at his dramatics, though she doesn't dispute what he's saying.

After all, it had all started with Betty when she had sat down and shown her father-in-law to the website, blowing his mind and opening him up to the world of eBay as she found and bought a replacement piece for his bike that was hard to get a hold of.

" _Really? That's all you have to do? And you can find_ _ **anything**_ _?"_

Betty chuckles as she remembers her father-in-law's complete wonder and amazement as she stepped him through the process, finding the part and ordering it for him within minutes. Previously the older Serpent has always been reluctant to buy things online. However after showing him how to do it for himself once more Betty had unwittingly created a monster just as her husband said.

Since then, each day FP has been sending Betty links to everything and anything under the sun that he has found which he thinks or knows may interest herself, his son or his granddaughter.

"It's  _sweet_ , Jug... He's always on the lookout on there for stuff for us and Emi. You know that little musical set in Emi's room? He found that."

Jughead just releases another groan as his head flops back against the lounge dramatically.

"Can we  _please_  stop talking about my dad right now?"

Betty giggles at Jughead and the creases on his forehead, simply pressing a kiss to her husband's lips to appease him as she swings her leg over his lap, straddling him on the lounge before speaking in a low whisper.

"Don't worry... I only have  _one_  Mr. Jones on my mind."

The couple quickly pick up where they left off with the moment between them quickly intensifying and escalating after the interruptions are gone... Until Betty's ringtone begins to bellow from within her pocket.

As Betty exhales a sigh, climbing off of his lap, Jughead's falls back against the lounge with a groan.

"I'm gonna kill him... This is  _harassment_."

Betty chuckles, leaning over to press an apologetic kiss to her husband's lips before he exhales a sigh, getting up and announcing that he's going to make a start on the dirty dishes. Meanwhile, Betty pulls her phone out, chirping sweetly as she answers it, as though she's just been sitting around waiting for a call.

"Hey FP. How are you? Sorry I just saw your messages. Thanks for the links."

"Hi Betty, that's all good. I hope I wasn't disrupting your night."

Betty glances back to her husband where he's unhappily adding detergent to the running water in the basin, deliberately speaking a little louder for his sake.

"Oh no, don't worry. You're not interrupting us  _at all_ , FP. We've just put Emi to bed and now Jug's just making a start on the dishes."

Across the room, Jughead shoots his wife the offended look that she had been anticipating with her attention split between the two Jones men as the other continues speaking and explaining the reason behind his call.

"Oh good... Now, were you still on the lookout for a dollhouse for Emi? I've found one that's going for a good price on eBay. It's ending soon, less than twenty minutes to go. It needs a bit of TLC but I'd be happy to give it a lick of paint and neaten it up for her. I think it'll come up a treat. Emi would love it. If you're interested, I'll start bidding for you."

Over the phone, Betty smiles at her husband's father and the care and love he shows to her daughter, touching Betty herself in turn. She is so immensely grateful for Jughead and his family who continue to choose Emi to be  _theirs_.

"Oh thanks, FP... You really don't have to if it's too much of an inconvenience. But if you think the price is okay, you can give it a go bidding on it and we'll just fix you up for the cost."

"Oh no, it'll be my treat, Betty. If I can win it I'd love to do it up to spoil my granddaughter but I just wanted to make sure that you hadn't already picked one up already. You can get things for an incredible price here on eBay,  _did you know_? Anyway, I've got to go. It's getting to the pointy-end of the auction and there's a bit of competition on this one. Enjoy your night, Betty. Bye."

Betty chuckles to herself as she ends the call and puts her phone in her pocket, walking over to her husband who is washing up the dishes as quickly as he can as she approaches him, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind as she presses a kiss to his shoulder blade.

"He's trying to win a dollshouse for bubba. It's one that he wants to do up for her" Betty explains in a whisper before stepping away and taking the tea towel, stepping in to help her husband with the dishes and finish the job off.

However, while the dishes were meant to be the  _only_  interruption to their evening together, FP continued to message every few minutes, updating Betty on the progress of the auction, along with the fact that he'd won, before sending through and informing her of all the details with the delivery turnaround and all of his plans to upgrade the dollhouse for their seventeen-month-old baby...

#

While he has always been a typically heavier sleeper, Jughead has found that ever since he and his girls have moved into their own home, any little sound has been enough to wake him up, urging him to do a sweep of the house and checking that he and Betty had definitely locked up every door and window that night.

Normally Jughead's sweeps come up clean with nothing. However, tonight the result is a little different, startling the young man as he walks into the kitchen, clutching at his chest, realising he's not alone.

Jughead gets over his scare almost instantly, moving across the room to pick his daughter up, pressing a kiss into her messy, light-brown hair as he rubs her back soothingly.

"Hey, bubba... What are you doing up? I'll take you back to bed."

Just lately and ever since Emi moved into her very first big girl bed upon their move to their new home, Jughead and Betty especially had been suspicious of whether the toddler had been staying in her bed all night long, after a few suspicious finds when morning rolls around.

However, neither of them had heard any evidence of the escapades through the baby monitor nor had either of them caught the little girl in the act before now.

Bringing Emi into his arms, the toddler begins to squirm and quietly protest, trying to get message a across to her dad with her limited vocabulary as her big, brown eyes look into his blues.

"Dada. Noms. Noms noms dada. Ta please."

As he holds her within his arms, Jughead grins at the toddler with a nod of understanding.

After all, one of Jughead's proudest parenting moments to date had been teaching his daughter to call food -of any type, at any time- ' _noms'_.

"Are you hungry, Ems? Funny that; daddy's  _always_  hungry..."

Jughead walks across the room with Emi in his arms, rocking her gently as he begins to riffle through the cupboards and the fridge, finding any snacks for the two of them.

Eventually he finds some leftover chocolate pudding from a few nights ago, feeling the presence of his sweet tooth and all the while knowing that Emi can manage eating it with ease. After all, she had absolutely  _devoured_  the dessert when Betty gave her a teeny tiny portion of it the other night after her steamed veggies.

"Noms noms dada" Emi babbles, just about _vibrating_ in Jughead's arms as he carries over the leftover to the dining table in his other arm.

Then, as Jughead places his daughter down in her high chair and secures her in with a kiss to the top of her head, Emi releases an excited little squeal just as she does come dinnertime, knowing what is about to come next expectantly.

"Shhh, quiet bubba... Don't wake mama."

Then, pulling two bowls and two spoons over from the kitchen putting the plastic variety in front of the toddler, Jughead scoops a few smaller segments of dessert into Emi's bowl, smooshing it up a little to make it easier for Emi to scoop it for herself before dishing up a much, much larger serving into his own bowl.

Before the chocolate pudding meets his lips, Jughead looks down to the toddler in the high-chair beside him with a stern expression that just makes her erupt with a giggle.

"Now, this stays between  _us_ , okay kiddo? Your mum will have my head if she knows that we had desserts at this time of night..."

And, it  _would_  have stayed a little secret between father and daughter in the dead of the night... That's if it weren't for the bowl and spoon along with its matching plastic counterparts that were left in the sink for Betty to discover the very next morning, finding the evidence of the daddy-daughter feast that just brings a silent smile to her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of Bughead, bit of FP and a bit of daddy-daughter time. Hope you all enjoyed this one. I'd love to know what you thought.
> 
> Next one: Jughead and Betty face some life-changing news.


	5. Positive

**5\. Positive**

Walking into the store purposefully, Betty is quick to scoop her daughter up into her arms and press a kiss to the top of her head as she holds the toddler against her hip. After all, she knows that Emi's curious little hands would be grabbing at anything bright, shiny or that caught her interest very, very quickly if she let them.

Then, leading the two of them through to the section that she is looking for, Betty comes to a standstill, bouncing her daughter on her hip as she does a quick scan around the store nervously  _before_  turning her concentration to the boxes in front of her. Looking from box to box she's trying to decide between words and selling points like 'first response', 'clinically recommended' and '99% tested accuracy'.

Taking a deep breath, Betty tries to calm her beating heart and quash the nervous fears that are bubbling within her stomach.

After all, she's still trying to wrap her head around her concern and the fact that for the second time in a year she's found herself in the exact same situation, hoping for the same result...

Just this morning, she had no idea her day would turn out like this.

As she lay there in bed this morning, pretending to be asleep as she savoured the moment of her husband pressing a goodbye kiss to her head and wishing her a good day in a whisper before he left for work, she'd had no idea her day would turn out like this.

Seeing as Emi had allowed her to sleep in a little later than usual, when she finally woke up again properly an hour after Jughead had left for work she'd had no idea that her day would turn out like this.

And, when she was on her phone in bed, allowing herself to dream of potentially working towards a family holiday as she scrolled through emails, sales and a bunch of different locations, she'd had no idea that her day would turn out like this...

However, not long all that long after she'd started searching through her emails, she'd been struck by a surprising wave of nausea. She barely even had time to think if anyone had recently mentioned feeling under the weather or if she'd eaten anything that might not have been the best decision last night  _before_  she was sent rushing to the bathroom.

The noise of her mother emptying the contents of her stomach then ended up waking Emi up from the next room over and while Betty was trying to steady her breathing and wipe her mouth clean, she began to hear the sobs coming from her daughter's room.

"Hold on, bubba. It's okay, sweetie... You're okay, Emi. Mummy will be there in a minute..."

Taking a deep breath as she tried to collect herself as quickly as she can, she brushed her teeth faster than she ever has before, then splashing water on her face with the hopes that it will help a little colour to return to her pale face. Then, she'd quickly rushed to Emi's room where the nineteen-month-old toddler was sitting on her big-girl bed, bawling, as she bellowed out for Betty.

As she picked Emi up and rocked her crying daughter in her arms, Betty felt like crying herself as her mind ticked over, trying to understand that morning's turn of events, only to realise that her rude awakening may have been the result of something far more serious than just an upset stomach...

Then, once she'd settled Emi down and preparee her breakfast, Betty's churning stomach led her to their families calendar as she searched for the last series of days that had her coded 'X' covering over the date, finding those dates, seven weeks ago, as her recent tiredness and general feeling of being off-colour suddenly made a world more sense...

 _That_  had been the turn of events that had led to the mother and daughter standing in that drugstore after what had just started out as any old day...

#

Feeling not only a little overwhelmed but also a little more nauseous as she looks between the brands and boxes, Betty is quick to grab a selection of three. Then, snatching them up in her free arm, she holds her daughter who is now grabbing for the boxes as she squeals in the other.

With a heavy sigh at the little glimpse of how difficult her life could be set to become, Betty tries to juggle the boxes in her hands and her daughter in her arms while fighting off her uneasy stomach and trying to make her way through that drugstore as quickly as she can.

Approaching the counter, Betty is grateful for all those years of training in Cooper etiquette which helps her to force a smile towards the girl on the other side of the counter who is looking more than a little judgemental as she glances between Emi and the boxes that Betty is buying.

Betty notes the look on the shop assistants face. She  _knows_  that look. After all, the look is just an intensified version of the one that she and Jughead are used to receiving when people see Emi with them, given their age.

However, while she and Jughead are used to the 'look' for the most part, Betty is feeling especially intolerant today.

Betty's  _already_  feeling self-conscious from the judgement she's receiving. So, then when Emi releases a shrill little unhappy squeal as though she has lost her toys when Betty places the boxes down on the counter, the young mother isn't quite as accepting of the noise as she normally would be, simply letting the single squeal pass. However, in the here and now she doesn't want the younger girl to think that she can barely control her toddler seeing as she's buying what she is and Emi may very well have a sibling joining her.

It's only because she feels that Emi's behaviour will be having a poor reflection on her, Betty feels impelled to say something to the infant who really doesn't know better, nor has she really done anything wrong.

"Shhhh bubba" Betty murmurs quietly, pressing a kiss to her daughter's head.

From the attention she's receiving from her mother, Emi looks up at Betty with her big brown eyes locking on her as she releases a little giggle this time, touching the side of her face lovingly.

For just the briefest moment her daughter's touch brings a smile to her face and Betty manages to forget where she's standing and what she's doing.

However, almost as soon as that feeling  _starts_  it  _stops_  and Betty is back to feeling uncomfortable and afraid of judgement during the transaction, sensing the checkout girl's look. So, it's  _then_  when Betty subconsciously swaps Emi from holding her in one arm to the other. It's as though she's adjusting her daughter in order to flash her engagement ring and wedding band to the girl who is bringing up the total, trying to silently communicate that while she  _is_  already a younger mother, she is a young wife,  _too_ ; not the stereotype that she is being reduced to.

With all of this happening within a matter of minutes, Betty is just about  _exhausted_  when the shop assistant finally hands the bag over to Betty with an equally forced smile as repeats the same 'have a nice day' that she has already uttered another forty times today.

#

While not all that long ago she'd found herself in the same situation sitting on the side of her bed at her parents' home, all too soon Betty has found herself in the same situation sitting and waiting on the side of her bed with a plastic stick in her hands. Though, last time she had her husband by her side.

This time, though, to her knowledge she'd only skipped one month and she wasn't anywhere near as exhausted as she had felt during her last scare. So, she was desperately hopeful that it was just another scare and another false alarm...

 _Surely_  she'd just eaten something that didn't agree with her last night; no need to worry Jughead just yet.

However, unlike the last time she'd found herself in this situation and despite the optimism that she was been clinging onto like a lifeline, all three tests are telling her the same thing, the very thing that she doesn't want to believe...

Two strips.

 _Pregnant_.

Sitting there on the side of her bed, Betty instantly claps her hand over her mouth to silence the sobs that she releases as tears stream down her cheeks while she tries not to wake her daughter who is napping in the next room over.

Despite her optimism of just minutes earlier, seeing that result sends Betty spiraling at the flood of feelings and different emotions.

After all, her first pregnancy had begun with the most traumatic experience of her life.

Then, upon learning of her pregnancy with Emi, Betty had thought that she was going to need to drop out of school. She had thought that she was going to have to break up with her boyfriend because she was carrying another man's child, though at no fault of her own.

Ultimately, she had thought that the life and future of her unborn baby would mark the end of her  _own_.

Despite the fact that she was carrying a tiny, little person within her, Betty had never felt so alone as she had after learning that she was pregnant two-and-a-half years ago.

Then, again, after her and Jughead's pregnancy scare just over a year ago, Emi hadn't even turned one, they were still living with her parents and they had felt so far from ready for the prospect of another child.

So, as a result, Betty can feel her anxiety levels rising as she reverts to seeing the  _worst_  of their situation, unable to ignore all of her fears of what  _could_  go wrong and all the reasons why she has reason to be scared witless.

And, this is just how  _she's_  feeling, let alone Jughead and her concerns at to how  _he_  will take their news.

Jughead...

Betty feels a streak of guilt pulse through her for not waiting or mentioning the possibility to him  _before_  now, now that she'll just be  _telling_  him about it with suspicions already confirmed.

Again, Betty thinks back to her first pregnancy and the difference in the fact that while she feels guilty for not telling her baby's father  _today_ , the first time around she had been willing to do absolutely anything in her power to keep the biological father from knowing about her firstborn's existence.

Then, trying to swallow her guilt at not even raising her fears to Jughead before she confirmed them, Betty takes a deep breath of air, trying to swallow her fears after the life-changing news she's learnt today, hoping that it will be  _enough_  to get her through the rest of the day...

#

Betty had about half an hour of time on her own before Emi woke up from her nap, hangrily demanding food.

Thankfully it had been just long enough for Betty to compose herself and to come to terms with her unexpected news  _enough_ , to get to the point that she was no longer trembling while uncontrolled tears streamed down her cheeks.

Then, the distractions in looking after her toddler, remembering that she had an article she needed to read over and send in before her four o'clock deadline and making cannelloni for their dinner kept Betty busy and occupied until Emi let out a squeal just after five.

One of the toddler's latest things is watching out for Jughead to arrive home. However, usually the time of day that the poor, unknowing little girl will keep on the lookout from is 8:50 in the morning, when Jughead leaves the house at 8:30.

"Daddddd" Emi squeals, shrieking with delight from where she's bouncing up and down as she looks out the window, waving to the oblivious man who has just parked in the driveway as he gathers his stuff from the seat beside him before walking up and towards his home. However, Emi has certainly alerted Betty of Jughead's arrival in the meantime.

Moments later, there is the soft noise of a key being adjusted within the lock before the door opens to reveal the husband and father of the two girls.

"Dadddddd" Emi squeals once again with a little gasp, bounding over from where she'd been standing by the window to meet him by the front door.

Jughead can't hide his smile as he scoops Emi up into his arms, cuddling her smaller body.

"Hey bubba! How are you my beautiful girl?" Jughead coos, pressing a kiss to the little girl's forehead as she babbles away animatedly with only every few words being understood as he walks the two of them across the room and over to Betty who has just checked on the cannelloni cooking away in the oven.

As Betty looks up and over to her husband and daughter who are nearing her, she can't help but crack a small smile watching the two of them together.

Some days the differences between the father and daughter are more pronounced than others.

 _Today_  is one of those days.

With his darker hair falling in front of his face as he presses a kiss to her blonde-brown curls, one pair of bright blue eyes and the other deep brown look between each smiling different smiles as they laugh together.

However, that factor doesn't stop the love and the bond between the two as Emi then nestles her head against her father's shoulder as he rubs her back, pressing kisses to the top of her curls affectionately.

Knowing this only furthers the warm smile on Betty's face as she looks between her husband and daughter who have walked over to her as Jughead presses a quick kiss to Betty's cheek.

"Hey Betts... Has cheeky monkey over here been okay for you today?"

Emi giggles as Jughead begins to tickle her belly while looking between the girls.

"Yeah, she's been fine today. She did give eating us out of house and home a red-hot go earlier on today, though. How was your day?"

Jughead gives the toddler a proud grin as he looks to her before answering his wife's question.

"It was a busy one at work... So many school kids. Geez they make a mess. I sympathise for Pop Tate for having to put up with us for so many years. What a saint."

Betty nods with a small, bemused smile that her husband picks up on even  _with_  his attention being split between the girl he's holding and the one he's standing next to.

"You okay?"

 _No_.

"Yeah, I'm alright."

Jughead's brow scrunches up a little more seriously as he watches his wife a little more closely for a few minutes before disputing her answer.

"Are you  _sure_  that you're okay, Betts?"

Betty knows that her husband can read her like a book, it's no use in trying to deny that and lie to him. However, she also knows that -right here, right now- she can't just blurt out that their families about to get that little bit bigger in the middle of the kitchen as he holds Emi.

So, with a deep breath Betty reaches out to squeeze his hand, sending him a small, appreciative smile for knowing her so well. Then she doesn't try to lie to him or try to hide the truth, she just decides to postpone it and delay the inevitable until a better moment.

"We'll talk later."

#

She'd kept quiet throughout dinner, not only not sure  _when_  to tell him but  _how_  the best way to do it is.

Meanwhile, throughout dinner Jughead had tried to catch her eye a number of times as they ate their own dinners between supervising Emi feeding herself messily while she babbled away to he as they tried to keep their conversation light and upbeat over the dinner table.

After dinner, Jughead was quick to start gathering up their plates and dishes to sort out the clean up while Betty insisted that she could bathe Emi. Then, after cleaning up the kitchen, Jughead stepped in to pick up the warm, little girl who was bundled into her favourite little bear pyjamas, carrying her to bed and reading her nighttimes stories until she fell to sleep, allowing Betty to take the long, peaceful shower that he sensed that she needed.

By the time that Betty eventually resurfaces in her cosiest pyjamas and her dressing gown with her hair thrown up messily, Jughead has got his feet up on the coffee table, watching a true-crime documentary that's airing seeing as tonight had been an easy one with getting their toddler to sleep.

Upon hearing her footsteps approaching him from behind, Jughead looks behind to send a small smile her way as she walks over and sits beside him. Almost instantly she collapses into the lounge, leaning against him while he gently wraps his arms around her body to help her to relax against him.

"Jug? Is now a good time to talk?"

The raven-haired-man's reply is instantaneous. After all, he can see how long it's taken her to work up to the point where she's at, feeling ready to talk to him about whatever's on her mind.

"Yeah, of course... I felt like something was bothering you. What's up, babe? Talk to me..."

Betty takes a big, deep breath as she shuffles from where she was laying against him, pulling back a little in order to sit up properly again. It's as she's doing this when Jughead notes the glisten of unfallen tears in her green orbs.

Although they sit in silence for a few moments, Betty's body language does the talking on her behalf as she nervously begins to play with his Sherpa jacket, another behaviour that her husband picks up on. So,  _he_  continues to watch her closely with concern as  _she_  continues to build the courage that she needs to find to say the words that she's trying to tell him.

"I took a pregnancy test today, Jug..."

It takes a moment. For the briefest second, time seems to stand still, coming to a grinding halt.

Then, as the words seems to sink in and absorb for the young husband and father, Jughead's eyes grow wide and his blues that had been a little more light-hearted and relaxed just moments ago seem to tense and widen.

As soon as he has reclaimed control of himself, Jughead begins to nod slowly and wordlessly, hoping that it's enough to encourage her to continue to speak as he struggles with words himself.

In the silence, Betty eventually musters up the courage to look up to him as she continues to fidget with his jacket, fiddling anxiously as she takes a deep breath and continues to speak.

"I'm pregnant."

The briefest pause feels like the longest moment as Jughead analyses the two words that his wife has just revealed, along with the way that they are set to impact their life forever.

Finally, inhaling a sharp breath as he comes to, the first thing that Jughead does is move forward to wrap his arms around his wife.

"Come here" he murmurs as he pulls her into his arms, pressing a single, lasting kiss to her temple as he pulls her against him and into his chest, holding her fragile, shaking frame against him while she feels his own heart beating through his chest.

A single, relieved tear streams down Betty's face and she feels like she can finally breathe again. Her relief is born not only from the fact that her husband finally knows what's she's been holding in and that he finally knows about their unborn child that before this morning she had been obliviously carrying but it's also the fact that he has only pulled her  _closer_  to him rather than fleeing or moving away.

When Betty finally musters up the courage to look up at his face and to see his reaction, it surprises her. After all, she can feel the way his heart is racing and pounding within him, yet his face is  _alight_.

As their eyes meet, the smile on Jughead's face as he looks down to his wife only furthers proudly before he speaks up in little more than a whisper.

It's as though he's trying to keep their little secret between the two of them, despite being in the privacy of their own home.

"We're having a baby... Wow, that's sooner than I thought we would be."

Despite being the very second thing to come from his mouth at hearing his wife's news, there's no question in Jughead's words or his voice. It's as though her announcement and his statement are synonymous; they go hand-in-hand.

Despite her own pounding heart and jittering nerves, Betty can't help but smile for just a moment from where she's nestled into her husband's chest.

 _Her_  resolve hadn't changed in the twelve months since the last time that the two of them had found themselves in the same situation. However, she wasn't sure how  _he_  was feeling about the topic now that not only has the topic arisen again but seeing as there's no question about it. So, at seeing the smile on his face and hearing no doubt and no question in his voice or his words is just what she needs.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Jughead then asks in little more than a whisper, looking down to her with his face creased with concern.

He's asking her that question about so many different avenues; physically, mentally and emotionally. However, Betty just shrugs, looking up to him

"As good as can be expected…"

Then, all of a sudden the fact that she is telling her husband the confirmed fact and not just her suspicions strikes him with realisation, resulting in the pang of pain that seems to spread across his face, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Why didn't you tell me before you took the test, Betts? How long  _have you_  known about the baby? I could have been there for you... I  _would have_  been there for you."

Betty gaze flickers up to her husband momentarily before she looks away guiltily.

After all, in the moment she had been  _so_  focused on trying to come to terms with the possibility for herself that she just had to know, she had to try and come to terms with that for herself before she could even consider raising the issue with him.

Perhaps that was partly seeing as it's the second occurrence and what she'd felt like would be the second scare in a year. But, regardless of what her thought process was at the time, she knows that she should have allowed the man beside her who has only proven his love for her and his loyalty to her time and time again to be more a part of the process.

"After the last time, I was so grateful for you. I could  _see_  how much you were struggling that day, too. Part of me felt more like it was just another scare than I did the last time. I hadn't been thinking it for long. I only found out a few hours ago after I started putting two and two together this morning. Honestly, I think the way I felt today was greatly attributed to how you had acted the last time and how calm  _you_  were. But, I didn't want to have to put you through that if it was just a scare again. I'm sorry... You should have known as soon as I did."

Jughead just pulls his wife a little closer into him, pressing a single kiss to her temple.

"Don't apologise. I'm not mad, but you didn't need to suffer through that on your own. I wish I could have been there for you. I would have been there for you. I appreciate you trying not to worry me if you didn't have to, but you didn't have to face this on your own, either. You didn't need to carry this alone."

Betty just nods once again, still struggling to brush off her guilt. After all, she knows that her husband has never, ever been anything other than supportive of her and their family after all that they've been through. The thought alone pricks what seems to be an endless stream of tears in her eyes once again as she finds herself apologising for what she shouldn't have to apologise for in little more than a whisper.

"I'm sorry, Jug... I know that this baby still wasn't a part of the plan just yet. I mean, we're usually careful but we haven't been as careful as we should have been since we moved in here. We shouldn't have been relying solely on my birth control. I'm sorry..."

Instantly Jughead, takes her hands into his larger ones, pressing a kiss to them as he looks up at her with his blue eyes filled with concern and sting at the fact that she's blaming herself.

"Please don't apologise, Betts..."

As her big emerald eyes look into his, Betty's own forehead is creased with fear as she looks to her husband with awe.

"How are you so calm, Jug? Aren't your worried? Scared?"

As his thumbs stroke her hands lovingly, Jughead releases a small chuckle.

"Of course, I'm scared. Hell, everyday I'm still scared at being a dad and a husband. But, I love it... It's a healthy fear. It means I know how important this is, to do the best and to be the best person for you and our family."

Despite the tears that are still pricking her eyes, Jughead's words and the comfort that she finds in him brings a small smile to Betty's face for one of the first times today.

However, Jughead doesn't stop there and he continues to elaborate on his reassurances and his own feelings as he tenderly strokes her hands within his.

"The last time, with the scare, it was our  _situation_  that had me concerned, not the fact that you thought you might be pregnant. But, we're doing better now than we were. We're in a better place now, Betts. We have a home of our own. We're older, Emi's older and we have more behind us. But, this baby will be just as loved as it would have been if you had been pregnant then. Sure, two kids two and under is going to be a handful but we can do it, together. You and I can do anything, Betty; we can make it through anything. We  _have_  made it through everything..."

Like a lighthouse through the rough seas that have been drowning Betty today, Jughead is providing the light and the hope that she so desperately  _needs_  to stay afloat.

"So you're really okay with it? Are you sure?"

The smile on Jughead's face answers Betty's question before he needs to.

" _Absolutely_... It's good news; incredible news, even... We've made a  _baby_ , Betts. We're giving our little girl a sibling."

As his cheeks beam brightly from his own words, Jughead lowers his head, to press a joyful kiss to Betty's lips as the two of them stay like that, close and cuddled up and together even  _after_  they pull apart.

However, then when they finally do shift and separate, all of a sudden Jughead's face drops at seeing an alternate view to his own.

"Why? Aren't  _you_  happy?" then Jughead's voice lowers fearfully. "Do you not want the baby, Betty?"

The relief Jughead feels as his wife shakes her head at his question is unrivalled.

"It's not that I don't want the baby, it's just... habit, I guess. You know, when I found out that I was pregnant with Emi, I wasn't in a good place. It wasn't all that long after Chuck, I felt like I was going to have to break up with you, I was worried about the judgement from everyone not knowing the truth of the matter and I thought I was just going to be desolate and limited to a life of difficulty... I had no idea it would lead to a wonderful little family. Then again with our scare, I saw the negatives... I was caught up with thinking about what it would mean with juggling Emi and how unprepared we were. I don't think I let myself see the good through the bad. It takes a while to change that headspace."

Jughead nods understandingly. He cannot blame his wife at all. After all, he'd stood there beside her as she struggled through breaking up with him as she informed him of her first pregnancy just hours after she'd found out herself. He'd  _seen_  the shell of herself that she had been as the weight of her burdens that were absolutely no fault of her own had dragged her down until he'd worked out the truth for himself. And, from there he'd been there through every repercussion of what she'd been forced to endure and was preparing herself to carry on her own.

"I know... I understand, Betts. So few people, me included, can even begin to scrape the surface in understanding what you have been through. You are the strongest person I have ever known and every day I am constantly in awe of you. You are the most incredible mother to Emi, Betts, and this kid is going to be just as lucky to have you, too."

Jughead's words once again leave Betty finding herself tearing up again with the small smile on her face slowly growing before her fears get the better of her once again.

"It's just going to be so tough, Jug... We'll have two kids two and under.  _We're_  basically still kids, too."

Again, Jughead understands his wife and her concerns. Heck, the exact same thing is going through his own mind as he tries to picture their already crazy lives juggling every plate they're already spinning along with  _another_  baby, too.

But, as he exhales his own sigh, Jughead looks down to his wife.

"It's not going to be easy, babe... Hell, we both know that it's hardly a walk in the park with  _one_. But, just think, your sister's been doing it with the twins all on her own, in a harder situation than we'll have... We'll be older than Polly was when she had the twins by the time we have the next one, Emi will be a little bit older; there'll be two years between her and the baby and even though Polly's been making it solo, don't you forget that you've got  _me_."

Betty nods into his chest, seeing the point that he's raising through her sister and her own niece and nephew who have just turned two. While she knows going forward her own her life is going to be impossibly hard, she understands what he's telling her, seeing the fact that they  _do_  have it better than Polly who has continued getting her through her hardest days.

However, with her mind working overtime, there is just one more factor on her mind that she quietly raises to her husband fearfully

"Do you think we can afford this baby? It was going to be tight enough as it is with this place... Do you think we're going to need to move out again?"

Jughead doesn't tell Betty that she has a cause for concern. He doesn't tell her that he's possibly even more terrified than  _she_  is about the prospect of having to have provide for another little person and feed another mouth so soon after moving into their first home.

Rather, Jughead just tells his wife six, single words with a world of determination behind them.

"We're going to make this work."

His words are not just a statement, they're a  _promise_.

The two of them continue to sit there in silence, cuddled up on their lounge with her in his arms and their hands on her abdomen after his palm had slowly made its way to her flat stomach, followed by her own as his thumb now brushes over her shirt soothingly.

They don't even know quite how long they stay like this for and they continue to do so until familiar little cries begin sounding from the second bedroom further within their home.

"Do you want me to just take care of her?" Jughead asks gently, tiptoeing around his wife knowing that a crying baby can be stressful at the best of times, let alone

"That's okay, I'm okay... Bring her out here."

Just a few minutes later, Jughead returns with a sniffling Emi in his arms as she lies against his shoulder with glimmering, tear-streaked cheeks as he rubs her back soothingly.

"Hey bubba..." Betty coos as her husband and daughter join her on the lounge.

Jughead's arm quickly finds itself wrapping around his wife's back comfortingly as the little toddler finds herself moulding into the space between her parents as she slouches from her position on her dad's lap, laying back against her mother's chest.

As the family of three sit there, cuddled up, the two, young parents share a knowing look, knowing that they are both thinking about the fact that in seven-and-a-half months they are set to become a family of four.

"She's too little to be a  _big_  sister..." Betty whispers with a small sigh as she gently combs her fingers through her daughter's hair. "Emi's still a baby herself."

Jughead simply nods as he holds his girls in his arms, giving them both an affectionate little squeeze before pressing another kiss to his wife's hair.

"We know it's going to be tough... No doubt about it. Some days it'll probably feel impossible, even. But, we're going to get through this. Like I said, we  _will_  make it work. I've got you, you've got me and our kids are going to have  _us_  doing our damn best for them."

The words that Jughead whispers to his wife as he looks between her and their daughter go returned by Betty with the smallest of smiles and a nod of agreement...

Betty has been through a whirlwind of feelings and emotions not only since she got out of bed this morning but over the last three years.

However, cuddled up with her little family she's  _happy_.

She knows that they'll be  _okay_...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked that introduction to baby number 2 that all of us but Betty & Jughead were expecting. I hope you all found the balance okay, too. While I know people wanted them (Betty especially) to be happier than they were during their scare, I still felt like I had to balance that with all the other realistic factors that would make the prospect of having another baby scary, especially at their age and in their situation, along with the difficulty of Betty's own turmoil from her experience of her pregnancy with Emi. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has been reading along. I'd love to know what you think of this one, too. 
> 
> Next chapter: Bughead share their news.


	6. Telling

**6\. Telling**

Just a week after she had shared their news with her husband, Betty had booked herself in for an appointment with the very same obstetrician she'd had with Emi.

In preparation for the day of the appointment, the couple had asked Betty's parents to look after Emi, figuring that her old home would no doubt be the most comforting atmosphere for her to be in while she was without her parents for a few hours.

Before the appointment tensions and stress-levels had been high as both Jughead and Betty continued trying to cope with their little surprise and the repercussions of how it will continue to change their lives forever from here on out.

Jughead had been stressing over numbers and figures while Betty had found herself easily overwhelmed; bursting into tears at the drop of a hat.

They both knew how unideal their situation was, they both blamed themselves for it, but they both knew that they just had to ride it out, incapable of anything other than following through with the pregnancy and just preparing for their second child.

* * *

"Elizabeth... Jughead...  _Welcome_. I must say I was a little surprised to see your appointment pop up on my schedule..." had been Betty's doctors opening words as they walked into the familiar room for round two of appointments.

However, Jughead's response had been equally honest as it was quick, earning himself a swat on the arm from his wife.

"Not as surprised as  _we_  were, I'm sure..."

* * *

Going through the routine tests, the checks and the questions, Betty learns that prenatal appointments are absolutely  _no_  more comfortable the second time around, than they are the first.

However, when the room is interrupted by the strong and steady, rhythmic thumping of their child's heartbeat, it changes  _everything_.

After all the anxiety and sleepless nights that they'd both fallen victim to since the day that had turned their lives upside down yet again, as soon as the two of them heard the strong and steady beats of their baby's heart, everything changed all over again...

Instantly, Betty clapped her hand over her mouth as she sobbed with joy, looking to her husband through teary eyes, only to find his reaction mirroring hers as they look to each other in awe.

Neither of them could hide their enormous smiles and the little tears of joy that they shared as they listened to the thumping heart of the minuscule person that they had given life to.

Clutching each other's hands tightly, in that moment both Betty and Jughead silently pledge to do absolutely anything and everything in their power for their child; to keep the safe, to keep them healthy, to keep them happy and to provide for them, just as they had for their older sister, too.

And just like that, from that moment forward, they were a family of  _four_.

* * *

After leaving the appointment, floating out on cloud nine together, Jughead and Betty strung out their day together for a few minutes longer before returning to the Cooper's, going out for lunch and making the most of the limited time together, child-free.

Upon arriving back at Betty's childhood home and the house that they had spent the first year of their married life in, the two of them don't bother knocking or waiting for the formality of being invited in.

Rather, they stroll in happily with Jughead's hand resting on Betty's lower back as they focus on each other rather than Alice who has just finished cleaning the dishes. Then, after a brief 'hello' in greeting, the Cooper matriarch advises them that their daughter is fast asleep upstairs in her old nursery.

Watching the two young adults closely, Alice is quick to raise an eyebrow as she watches her daughter and son-in-law interactions since entering her home.

Then, as the young couple whisper to each other, the two of them are suddenly snapped from their thoughts by Betty's mother who has her eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"So, when are you due?" Alice asks knowingly. However, her question knocks both her daughter and her son-in-law for six.

There is no question of Alice's suspicion in her voice. Rather, her question is based on the assumption that she  _is_  correct; a confidence which certainly came across in her voice.

Like two deer caught in the headlights, Jughead and Betty look to each other, wide-eyed, only furthering Alice's conviction as she continues to observe any expression and interaction between them.

Jughead and Betty know that the two of them -along with Betty's obstetrician- are the  _only_  ones who know about their baby. So, consequently, neither of them can understand how Alice all of a sudden seems to  _know_ , especially seeing as they had planned to wait until the three month mark before sharing their news, with Betty still a month off of reaching that milestone.

"Oh,  _please_... Do you think I came down in the last shower? The two of you are both grinning from ear to ear. Not to mention Jug-head is basically  _vibrating_  with excitement, just like he did after every ultrasound with Emi. Now, answer the question. When are you due, Elizabeth?"

Betty and Jughead share a sheepish glance as his hand continues to rub her lower back, giving her a reassuring little nod as she divulges the truth to her mother.

"May 13... I've only just gone eight weeks. We weren't planning on telling people for another month or so."

After her daughter finally acknowledges the truth that she already knew timidly, Alice exhales a heavy sigh, looking down to the ground. Her sigh is followed by an extremely long pause and an uncomfortable silence as Betty and Jughead look to each other while Alice's view remains locked on the ground beneath her.

In that moment, despite being married with a daughter of their own, Betty and Jughead share the sentiment that it feels as though they're both about to be grounded.

Even before that moment, Alice's reaction was the one that terrified Jughead, knowing just how vocal his mother-in-law had been in warning both himself and Betty to wait a while before expanding their family with any siblings to join their little girl.

After all, Alice Cooper knew all about the difficulty of having two babies so close in age and that was even with being not only a little older than the two of them but also in a better position than Betty and Jughead were.

Then, despite her sigh of resignation, Alice finally looks back up, opening her arms to her youngest daughter and then to her son-in-law, giving them a hug with a dampened " _congratulations"_.

From there, the room falls to an uncomfortable silence once again after Alice's single-word response to the news that she had guessed of her own accord. So, Jughead and Betty gladly excuse themselves in order to go and collect their daughter from her former nursery.

However, as the young couple begin to ascend the stairs to get to Emi, Alice stops the two of them with a single statement.

"I'll break it to your father, for your own sake."

* * *

Jughead and Betty had decided to tell his father a few weeks later after FP had invited the two of them and Emi over for dinner, just as he had done a handful of times in the last eighteen months since they got married.

On the day that FP had invited them over, Betty was just a week and a half short of reaching the twelve week mark so together she and Jughead had decided to share their news with him anyway, making the most of what was the perfect opportunity to tell the grandfather-to-be.

Coughing obviously to draw attention to himself, Jughead was the one who raised the topic to his father after dinner as the three of them sat around, watching Emi play with Hot Dog in the middle of the small room and in front of them.

"Doggie!" Emi squealed, interrupting her father's announcement and exclaiming one of the few words in her vocabulary with impeccable timing.

Looking up and seeing the nod and small smile from her mother in acknowledgement is enough for Emi as she continues to pat her hand up and down, tapping her grandfather's dog more than she was petting him. Emi's fixation on Hot Dog had resulted in frequent "gentle, bubba!" reminders from both her parents who had been watching her closely with the sheepdog.

"Dad, we have some news..." Jughead had finally begun, looking to Betty for an infusion of confidence as she squeezes his hand, prompting him to continue speaking.

"Emi's going to be a big sister."

FP cried. Though he'd insisted it was just allergies, both Jughead and Betty could see the glimmering moisture borne from tears of joy in the doting grandfather's eyes that made an appearance as soon as the news sunk in as he'd bounded off the lounge to congratulate his son and daughter-in-law.

* * *

When it came to telling their daughter, Betty and Jughead had both felt conflicted and uncertain of whether or not to try to tell Emi, and if so,  _how_  to do it.

In the end, they tried to sit her down and explain it to her with Betty combing her hand through her locks lovingly from where she sat on Jughead's lap.

"There's a baby in mummy's tummy, bubba... We're going to have a baby with us soon."

Seeing as she wasn't even two yet, the reality of becoming a big sister did not seem to sink in for Emi, unsurprisingly.

To be honest, both Jughead and Betty hadn't expected the concept to be understood by the little girl, but it in the end it had felt more wrong to assume she  _wouldn't_  understand it and not to at least endeavour to  _try_  to share the news that she was going to have a little baby sibling than it did to  _try_  to.

Then, Emi just parroted Betty's words, repeating ' _Baby!'_ before sliding off of Jughead's lap in order to go and play with her toy that had caught her eye in the corner.

The little girl left her parents just shrugging to each other on the lounge at the anticlimactic reaction before Jughead shuffled a little closer, pressing a kiss to his wife's cheek, holding her as they sat there watching Emi play nearby.

However, little did her parents know that over the months that would follow, things would slowly sink in for the little girl just a little and every now and then she'd seem to understand or point to Betty's tummy (or Jughead's) with an affectionate ' _Baby!'_  when the word would arise and when she heard it in conversation or movies.

* * *

Thankfully keeping their news from their closest friends hadn't proven to be too hard a task.

In fact, given the fact that Archie and Veronica were preoccupied with classes and essays and lectures and parties since beginning college a few months ago, the group of best friends had only caught up twice in the space of time between the day when Betty had paid a trip to the drugstore up to reaching the twelve week mark.

Then, seeing as when she  _finally_  reached that milestone, Archie and Veronica were heading into exam week in just a few days time, Betty and Jughead had waited another two weeks, to catch up. They eventually invited Archie and Veronica over for dinner on the day she hit fourteen weeks, also holding off from sharing their news openly with the rest of the town until their best friends knew first.

This time around Betty had found that she was showing earlier than she had with Emi. So, feeling a little self-conscious she'd picked a flowing sundress that didn't hug her little bump (that probably wouldn't have been evident to anyone other than herself and Jughead), also wrapping her apron she would don until she pulled the lasagne out of the oven around her waist a little more loosely than she normally would.

However, it turned out that she didn't really need to hide the minuscule protrusion in her stomach for very long with the news coming out just ten minutes after their best friends arrived.

It was just after Jughead had finished bringing the drinks over to the dining table as Betty checked on the lasagne and Veronica watched her boyfriend tickling their best friend's squealing daughter in his arms who was clutching the doll that Veronica had given to her today along with the set of children's hair bands identical to her own collection.

Then, telling Archie he was being too rough with the one-year-old, Veronica asked for a cuddle with Emi as the adults took their seats at the table, with Jughead placing down the last drink before Betty is the last to join them after putting the pot-handles down and setting the timer for another twenty minutes before taking her seat beside her husband.

Seeing as Jughead and Betty had already quizzed their friends on their lives and college, Archie turned the interest back on them with his unknowingly loaded question

"So what's new for you guys?"

Betty began with a few trivial mentions as she gazed to her husband while the two of them silently decided on whether to share their news now or a little later on. Then, exchanging a little nod of confirmation and a smile, Jughead spoke up with the  _real_  news.

"Well, Betty's pregnant."

Veronica had squealed, Archie had made some remark towards Jughead that left both girls rolling their eyes and both of them had hugged their closest friends, congratulating them warmly at their news that despite their age and their situation they focused on seeing the  _joy_  of.

* * *

A little later on in the evening, Jughead and Archie are playing video games with Emi sitting between them on the couch, watching them sleepily while sucking on her dummy rhythmically.

Both Jughead and Betty had tried putting their overtired baby to bed with both of them finding that she outright  _refused_  to go to sleep as easily as she would most nights. It was as though she knew what she was missing out on with her aunty and uncle over for the evening and she wasn't going to stand for it.

So, in the end, Jughead and Betty had given up on trying to put her to sleep after finding that she was perfectly content with lying between the boys and nestling into her dad who was hoping that  _maybe_  she would fall asleep there.

Meanwhile, the two girls were sitting outside on the deck of Jones's small home, enjoying the pleasant evening outside while sipping on the soda water that Veronica had brought along, making the most of the privacy for a little girl talk.

"So, two under two..." Veronica begins with an exasperated sigh on her best friend's behalf, counting her lucky stars that  _she's_  not in Betty's shoes.

The blonde just chuckles, though it's not all that funny, shaking her head to herself just at the mention of the concept that  _she's_  still trying to wrap her head around.

"Well,  _technically_ , it'll be two, two and under. Emi will have just turned two about a month-and-a-half before the baby's born."

Veronica gives her friend a light-hearted eye roll, teasing her pedantic response.

"My mistake."

Betty just shrugs it off with a sigh, explaining the  _real_  reason behind the correction to her best friend as her hand comes to rest on her stomach.

"Honestly V, I'm just looking for every little silver lining I can find at the moment..."

Hearing the deeper affliction behind Betty's sigh and the words that followed it, Veronica looks to her best friend with concern, sitting up a little further in her seat as she watches her intently.

"So how are you doing, B? How are you finding being pregnant this time around after last time? Given everything surrounding your pregnancy with Emi..."

Betty looks to Veronica, her big green eyes watching her friend a little sadly for a few moments before she speaks up.

"You mean after Chuck?"

Betty is wanting to ensure that she's interpreting Veronica's question in the way that she thinks Veronica is. While her best friend momentarily flinches at the name, she then nods in answer to Betty as she silently sips on her soda water.

"I know I'm deluding myself to a degree, but, in my mind, what happened with Chuck and my pregnancy with Emi are completely separate things. I had to separate them to cope. To feel so much love for one person and so much hatred for another from what all comes down to one act... It all  _had_  to be separate. So, despite last time, I'm okay... Our family's growing, Jughead and I are having another baby and Emi's going to be a big sister. All of that is separate to Chuck."

Veronica nods, watching Betty intently to ensure that her words are compatible with the expressions that her face is revealing.

Then, putting her glass of soda water down, Veronica claps her hands together, making a well-meaning resolve.

"Look, the time might vary and I'll probably need to work it around my classes and any other weekly commitments I have, but I want to commit to taking Emi off your hands for a few hours each week."

Seeing the look on her best friend's face, Veronica can tell that's she's about to dispute it and wave the suggestion off. So, the raven-haired woman jumps in first, expanding on her initial argument.

"I need some serious girl-time with my little lady!"

"You don't need to do that, V..." Betty tips her head as she looks over to her friend gratefully, finally getting a few words in before her friend cuts her off once again.

"I want to do it, B. Do you think I'm just trying to do you a  _favour_? I have a whole lot of Lodge wisdom and style secrets to impart to the next generation..."

After trying to speak up only to be hushed by Veronica once again, Betty eventually concedes and just reaches out to squeeze her best friend's hand with gratitude. While Veronica's arranging the babysitting under the premise of it being for herself and Emi's sake, Betty knows that they both know who Veronica is  _really_  doing it for.

"Thank you" Betty whispers, her green eyes boring into Veronica's brown genuinely.

The Latina just nods, sending the young mother a smile, accompanied by a few words of support.

"You've got a rocky road ahead, B. But, we're all here for you and Jughead. Actually, we're here for all  _four_  of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betty's pregnancy will speed up pretty rapidly from here. While there's a couple of one-shots that will deal with elements of her second pregnancy, it's not going to be the focus of this story as I covered her pregnancy quite explicitly in the first story. However, I felt like this was important not only considering how unplanned this pregnancy was but also to address how Betty was feeling after her first. I think there's another two one-shots during her pregnancy left.
> 
> Next one: Jughead deals with Betty's roller-coaster ride of hormones.


	7. Hormones

  1. **Hormones**



As the months passed by, both Betty and Jughead had been madly planning and preparing for their new arrival, feeling the pressure like it was breathing down their necks... 

Hoping to try and reduce the pressure for Jughead by juggling as much as she could and contributing to their finances as much as she could for as long as she could, after hitting the second trimester Betty had set out to find employment and odd jobs that she’d be able to work both around and with Emi.

After all, Betty knew that their situation is only going to become increasingly more difficult over the coming months. So, she wanted to ease the pressure for her husband to provide for their growing family however she could seeing as Jughead was already working overtime and weekends whenever and wherever he could.

It hadn’t taken long for her to finding tutoring work with a handful of students that she’d tutor regularly, twice a week. She’d also managed to secure a short-term contract that gave her a few weeks of work in transcribing which she could do from home, working it around Emi’s nap times. 

However, Betty had found the most success in mystery shopping; much to her best friend’s envy. 

After all, not only did Betty have her writing credentials from her summer internship during high school along with her name on the editor line of the  _ Blue and Gold _ under her belt but they’d also found that she’d proved to be an excellent depiction of true customer service experiences. You see, no one seemed to expect that the evidently young mother with a rambunctious toddler on her hip and a bulge to her abdomen would be the person who’d be heading home to write a review on their service and the customer experience at the end of the day. 

Meanwhile, while Jughead too had been putting his hand up for any extra work and opportunities that presented themselves from his job at  _ Pop’s _ , he’d also been looking for other work, hoping to find something a little more high paying  _ despite  _ the fact that an empathetic Pop Tate had been bumped his wage to the highest justifiable hourly rate for his position. 

While it was hard work, neither Betty, nor Jughead would have it any other way, doing their absolute best to care for and provide for their growing family.  

#

One side effect of her pregnancy this time around that was only becoming more and more prevalent as her pregnancy progressed was her out-of-control hormones... 

While Jughead could recall very few especially hormonal moments during Betty’s pregnancy with Emi, this time around her hormones had been  _ through the roof _ . 

In fact, it had gotten to the point that even in watching the current TV series that she’s been hooked on in her very limited moments of downtime when she’s folding washing or doing the ironing, Jughead has been able to distinguish what sort of storylines Betty’s been watching, solely judging by her mood and her disposition. 

When the characters were happy, Betty was happy. Then, when they weren’t, neither was she. However, unfortunately seeing as she’d been captivated by a  _ drama _ series, Jughead had found that often times that meant it was swinging more so to the  _ latter _ than the  _ former _ ...

When a character finally declared their love for another? There were tears of joy at how wonderful love and life is. When a character found out that her boyfriend was a married man, concealing his wife and family? Betty didn’t talk to Jughead for an entire evening. A character death? She was inconsolable, as though she’d just lost a close friend. 

In fact, it had gotten to the point that Jughead was  _ researching  _ the show himself, just to see what plots and storylines were coming up from Betty’s point in the show just so he’d know what he could expect, knowing that his wife would be living vicariously through them, experiencing it right there along with them, with Jughead having to deal with whatever storyline that so happened to be. 

#

Just few weeks on and Betty had hit the five month mark.

They’d had her twenty week scan where after finding out their baby was perfectly healthy, Jughead and Betty had been given the opportunity to learn the gender of their unborn child. However, despite a last minute  _ -almost-  _ change of heart from Betty, the two of them had decided against it, opting for a surprise this time around.

However, just because they didn’t learn their baby’s gender this time around, it hasn’t stopped the two of them from endeavouring to  _ guess  _ it, with both their predictions imitating the first time round.  

Once again, Jughead is convinced that they’re set to have another daughter, while again Betty believes they’re having a boy, to which her husband would just grin at her and chuckle to himself, saying: 

“Well,  _ who  _ got it right the last time we had a daughter...?” 

#

A few weeks later marked an ordinary Wednesday and a typical day at work for Jughead  _ until  _ he finally checked his phone during his break. 

Upon finding eight missed calls from his wife, Jughead’s stomach drops from within him and his heart just about  _ stops _ as he presses frantically, trying to return her call as quickly as he can when she finally answers after a few rings, which feels like a  _millennium_. 

The panic that fills him is debilitating. 

“Betty?! Are you girls okay? Is it the baby?! Where are you?!” 

Her tears that he hears from across the phone line do  _ nothing  _ to help him or his heart rate, nor do her words that follow. 

“I’m a terrible mother...” 

“What’s wrong? It’ll be okay, Betts. Just breathe... Talk to me. What’s wrong?” 

As she tries to control her breathing and her sobs from the other side of the line for long enough to allow her to speak, Jughead is simultaneously leaving work, with his phone pressed to his ear, racing out to the car and preparing to fly home when she finally speaks up. 

“I ate it! Emi found the last little chocolate that your dad gave her the last time we visited him and I told her that she could only have it after she had her lunch. I  _ promised  _ her. Then, a little later on, I was three quarters finished it when I realised what I’d done... I’m the worst mother!” 

It’s chocolate... She is crying over  _ chocolate _ . 

Confessing her sins to her husband only results in the young mother’s tears beginning all over again as she wails to him guiltily. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the phone, feeling relief flood through him gratefully, Jughead just begins to laugh, once again reflecting on just much more wild and intense her hormones have been this time around than he ever, ever recalls with Emi. 

Then, upon hearing her husband’s amusement and his poorly disguised laughs from the other side of the line, Betty becomes more unhappy than she does upset, sounding like a seven-year-old in an argument with a sibling. 

“ _ Shut up _ Jughead! I’m serious!”

Trying to stifle his laugh, Jughead quickly reverts to damage control and consolation that he has come to have plenty of practice in over the last few weeks, reassuring Betty of herself and trying to dissolve her blame with comfort. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry... You are an  _ amazing _ mother, Betts. Growing a baby is hungry work;  _ especially  _ a Jones baby... Don’t worry about it. Just tell Emi that she can have it after she finishes her dinner tonight instead. I’ll pick a chocolate up for her on my way home tonight.”

There’s a little sniffle from across the line followed by a cheerier version of Betty and her sweet, sing-song voice.

“Thank you, Juggie... I love you.  _ We _ love you.” 

On the other side of the phone, Jughead just grins, feeling a surge of warmth in his heart upon thinking about his little, growing family back at home. 

“But, if you think that I’m ever going to let you live this down, Betts...” 

Walking a dangerous line, Jughead winces as he hears the expected “ _ Jughead!” _ over the line, grinning at the tease before he wraps their call up with a “love you”. 

When Jughead returned home from work that night, he walked in bearing a single, fun-sized chocolate for his daughter -as promised- along with a punnet of chocolate ice-cream for his  _ other _ girl and his  _ other _ child...

#

A few weeks later and they’ve both just gone to bed on what is any old Monday night. 

Emi’s fast asleep, the dishes are done and they’re already in bed with Betty propped up against her mountain of pillows, rubbing her growing stomach that is peeping through her pajama shirt as she reads one of her many parenting books from where she lays there beside her husband who is tucking into his latest thriller. 

However, as she rubs her burgeoning belly, Betty finds herself growing more and more distracted from her book with the reminder of a recurring thought that she has found to be on her mind a  _ lot  _ over this last week. 

It had started off as something simple, something like daydreaming about whether the new baby would like him, like her or maybe even a little like Emi. It started off small and menial, just beginning with a little insecurity. However, as the days have ticked by and with Betty’s mind not necessarily factoring in  _ rationality  _ as a high point of late, the thought had grown and grown to the point it was overwhelming her. 

She knew that it was something that she was going to have to raise to her husband. However, she just didn’t quite know  _ how _ . 

The worry that has been consuming Betty is the thought of how having a second child, one that is biologically Jughead’s own, will impact on his love for and his bond with Emi. 

However, stealing her from her own thoughts and her own fears, Jughead puts his book down on the bedside table of his side of the bed before wriggling closer to his wife and placing his hand on her belly where his join her, both rubbing affectionately. 

“Can I tell you a secret, Betts?”

There is the briefest moment of confusion with just a slither of panic on her face before she nods. Her eyes are watching him intently, reassuring him of being honest before preparing herself for whatever words he may say next. 

“Of course;  _ always _ . You know that…” 

“It’s stupid…” 

Jughead’s head ducks as his gaze is cast down to her expanding stomach; the evidence that their unborn baby is growing within her. 

“What babe? Tell me…” Betty just coos in response, running her hand through his thick, dark locks. 

Jughead’s blue eyes flicker up and meet her green ones momentarily before he looks down and away once again, unable to meet her in the eye as he speaks up; as though he can only do one  _ or  _ the other. 

“Look, I’m sure that it’ll be nothing to worry about when the baby’s  _ actually  _ here, it’s just that -I don’t know about you- but I find it hard to imagine being able to love another baby as much as I love Emi. You know? I mean, I love the two of you but that’s in  _ different  _ ways...  I just find it a little hard to comprehend and imagine being able to love someone else in the way I love her, as much as I love her.” 

The silence that follows Jughead’s honest admission does  _ nothing  _ for his nerves over the topic that he didn’t quite know how to raise with his wife and that’s  _ before  _ he looks up to see that her eyes are growing glassy as they fill with tears. 

While Jughead’s words have overwhelmed Betty with the feeling of relief and love from her husband’s unknowing affirmation that had proved she had absolutely nothing to worry about, the very same words and the very same tears leave Jughead worried that he’s upset his wife and triggered her hormones that were not in short supply, to which he is quick to try and backtrack on. 

“Oh! Oh, I don’t mean that I don’t think that I won’t love this baby, Betts, I will, I know I will, I already  _ do _ , but I’m just trying to say that-”

Jughead’s words only last as long until his wife cuts him off, ending his stumbling words from his stuttering lips as he tried to backpedal himself out of trouble before she cuts him off with a kiss.

“I know  _ exactly  _ what you’re saying.” 

Another kiss. And another… And another. 

Just as Jughead is thinking that he might just need to shelve his book for the night, Betty pulls away, swiping at her fallen tears that have since streamed down her cheeks, leaving them damp, as she confesses to her own silly thoughts and insecurities just as he had minutes ago. 

“All week, a stupid thought of my own has been playing on  _ my  _ mind… I know it’s stupid and it’s completely without any basis or reason,  but all week I’ve been worrying about how having this baby, your biological child, will impact on your bond with Emi…”

Looking at his wife and looking into her eyes as she looks away from him with her insecurities that just moments ago she had deemed as ‘stupid’ as they rise to the surface, breaking his heart from seeing the underlying fears from with her. 

In fact, he doesn’t even know if his words will be enough to prove his answer  _ beyond doubt _ to her. So, before he utters a single word, he gently takes the side of her face in one of his palms, stroking her damp cheek with his thumb as he continues rubbing her stomach with his other hand as he looks her deep in the eye. 

“Betty. There is not a single part of me that views Emi as anything other than my daughter. Not even a piece of paper says anything other than the fact that I’m her father. This is  _ our  _ second child.” 

“I know that…” Betty whispers through her sniffles and soft sobs as fresh tears stream down her cheeks. “And I love you so,  _ so  _ much for that.” 

After all, over the last two years since Emi’s birth, not once has Jughead referred to her as his  _ step _ -daughter over his daughter and not once has he called Emi ‘Betty’s daughter’ over ‘our daughter’. 

Despite her raging hormones and insecurities, deep down, Betty  _ knows _ . 

She knows that every part of Jughead sees their unborn child as  _ their  _ second, not as  _ his  _ first. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I hope you’re all enjoying these little snippets into the Jones family and the happily ever after they so desperately deserved. 
> 
> Also, what’s everyone’s verdict on whether they’re having a boy or a girl? Any guesses on a name? 
> 
> Next one: Meet baby Jones.


	8. Arrival

  1. **Arrival**



She was late.

Unlike going early with Emi, Betty was four days late, four days past her due date and approximately forty weeks completely _over_ it.

It was the first thing that Jughead would hear about when he got up in the morning and the last thing before he went to sleep at night.

She had had enough. She’d had _more_ than enough, in fact. Over the last week, she’d found herself trying everything she could with the hopes of getting the wheels in motion to prompt baby Jones to make his or her arrival, without luck.

So, now, she had conceded to the fact that she was going to be pregnant _forever_.

#

Over the last few months and in the lead up to their second child, Jughead and Betty had worked their butts off to get ahead and do as much as they could for as long as they could, while they were just juggling life with _one_ child.

It hadn’t been easy and they still felt like they were going through money a whole lot faster than what they were bringing it in, but they had managed to move past the point of just treading water with their finances, managing to save a little bit to put behind them.

That in itself was a bit of a relief, not living simply from pay check to pay check. Then, on top of that, they’d had another little luxury come their way a little over two months ago...

Upon celebrating Jughead and Betty’s two year wedding anniversary a little over two months ago, followed by Emi’s second birthday the week after it, Veronica and Archie had stepped up with giving the ultimate gift to the expectant parents, largely funded by her parents.

Veronica ( _and Archie_ ) had gifted her best friend and her husband with a ‘babymoon’ retreat, sending them away and just out of town for five days, with both themselves and Betty and Jughead’s family lined up to look after Emi for them for the entire time they were away.

After all, Veronica knew that Betty and Jughead had never had a proper honeymoon two years ago after their wedding day, seeing as Betty was due to have Emi any day. So, the raven-haired Latina had thought that in celebration of their second wedding anniversary together it was the perfect opportunity and the perfect gift to send the expectant parents away for some time together before the birth of their second child, doubling as both a ‘babymoon’ and a belated honeymoon.

However, over the last few days and especially as she gets further and further past her due date, in Betty’s mind the five days of bliss with her husband might as well have been a million years ago. That’s how it feels to her.

So, trudging inside that night with her handbag and her ‘baby elephant’ (as she’d oh-so affectionately been referring to her unborn child over the last few weeks of her pregnancy) in tow, Betty already has a scowl on her face, immediately beginning to vent to her husband from the moment that she steps foot inside their home.

“They’re not going to induce me unless I get to ten days overdue. And, on another note, it seems that doctors don’t accept bribes.”

Jughead chuckles at his wife’s grumbles that he’d come to expect over the last few weeks in the lead up to and since her due date, hearing her entering their home after arriving back from her appointment, hearing it from where he’s in the dining room further in their house.

Then, it isn’t long before Jughead hears a gasp as she reaches the doorway of the dining room that she has waddled through to.

Glancing up, Jughead can’t hold back his grin as he sees the look on her face as she clutches her hand on her heart while she looks across the room, her eyes being cast around their freshly cleaned home, then between the dinner-for-two that is laid out on the table for them, seeing the flowers on the centre of the table and the candles scattered around, illuminating the dining room.

“Oh Juggie... Oh _wow_...” Betty smiles, sounding a little winded seeing and as though the breath has been swept out of her following her husband’s surprise.

He walks around the table to meet her in the doorway, intertwining their fingers together as he pulls her body close to his. She is quick to further their touch by reaching up to press a kiss to his lips with just a little difficulty given her baby belly that is sandwiched between them. 

“Emi’s with Veronica and Archie for the night... We can pick her up again any time before lunchtime tomorrow.”

“Wow, _thank you_... What’s all of this for?”

Pulling away and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear with one hand as he comes to rest his hand on her abdomen with his other, Jughead’s blue eyes sparkle as he looks down to her.

“I wanted to spoil my wife for one night... I know you’re a bit over being pregnant and you’re a bit over _me_ for my role I have to play in that, but I just wanted to thank you for everything you do, everything you have done and everything you continue to do for me, for Emi and for this baby, too. I’m sorry that you have to suffer to bring our baby into the world. But, I just want you to know how thankful I am and how lucky we know we are to have _you_.”

With her emerald eyes growing glazy as a few, single tears begin to slide down her cheeks, Betty’s voice is growing heavy with emotion as she replies, sniffling, while she desperately fights back her tears.

“Oh, you’re going to make me cry!” Betty exclaims, as though it’s a feat... It _hasn’t_ been for about the last five months.

Cutting her off _before_ her tears come, Jughead leans down to press a kiss to her lips that quickly grows deeper and more heated until she pulls away. However, even after pulling away, she stays close as she looks up to him with a look in her eye that he knows well...

“You know, I’ve tried basically anything and everything I can to get this baby moving. But, there is _one_ suggestion that I keep seeing which I haven’t had a chance to try out yet...” Betty whispers seductively, her eyes almost doubling in size as she looks up at him with a small smirk while her hands roam his body.

“Any chance you’d be willing to oblige?”

Quickly forgetting about the dinner that he’d prepared (or mostly reheated, to be perfectly honest) for possibly the one and only reason that carries the power to do so, Jughead plays along with his wife, sounding serious and dutiful.

“Well, given my role as your husband and being half the reason why you’re in this current predicament at the moment, I can’t help but feel _personally_ responsible. In fact, I’d even say it’s my duty to help you however I can...” 

Smiling as she leans up to press a hasty kiss to his lips, Betty utters just three words as they stand on the spot that they don’t stay at for long at all before relocating.

“Right answer, baby...”

#

Just three days and seventeen hours of labour later, _he_ was born...

_Cooper Forsythe Jones._

While Betty had been _all_ for ‘Forsythe the Fourth’, Jughead couldn’t have been more against the idea, not wanting the ‘Forsythe Pendleton Jones’ curse to carry on through another generation. So, as a compromise, early on in her pregnancy the two of them had decided on ‘Forsythe’ as a middle name if they were to have a son.

Then, Cooper’s dad had been the one to choose his first name.

Tears had filled Betty’s eyes at her husband’s insistence to keep the name that she bore for the first seventeen years of her life alive through their son.

After all, Jughead had explained just how much it meant to _him_ and how honoured he had felt when, two years earlier, Betty had chosen Emi to take _his_ surname. So, to return the favour, he had been vocal in wanting their son to take _hers_ , as his first name.

#

“He is so perfect... So, _so_ perfect...”

Betty whispers to Jughead, saying the words that have been uttered umpteen times today, once again.

She can barely even tear her eyes away from her baby boy that they had created for long enough to look up at her husband. Then, even as she does, as soon as she and Jughead share each other’s radiant smiles, both of their eyes are back on the baby in her arms.

“You did so well, babe... _Thank you_ ” Jughead beams proudly, leaning over to press a kiss into her messy, sweaty golden locks that are either tied up messily or sprawled across her face, sticking to her moist skin.

This time after she returns his smile, they share each other’s gaze for a little longer and Jughead leans down to press yet another kiss to his wife’s lips. After all, he’s been unable to hold back any of his love, his pride or his joy during the elation that has followed the exhaustion as Betty brought their son into the world.

However, despite Jughead’s words of praise, Betty shares the credit between them, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness as she gazes up to him, reflecting the same love, pride and adoration that is shining down on _her_...

“Look what we _made_ , Juggie...”

#

After a few, all-important phone calls to their loved ones who had been waiting with eager anticipation, just a little later on and not long after Cooper’s first feed, Jughead and Betty were able to hear their eldest child long before they could see her as she nosily babbled her way down the corridor, telling her grandfather a story that he can only make out parts of through her skewed, growing vocabulary.  

Emi’s grandparents had taken it in turns to look after the two-year-old, with Alice and Hal collecting her as soon as they received a call from Jughead when they were getting ready to leave for the hospital. Then, while Betty’s parents had to work and keep the paper running today, FP had stepped in, looking after Emi until the call from Jughead came through, informing him to bring the little girl into see them and to meet her brand new baby brother.

After having been cared for by grandparents while her parents were at the hospital, Emi’s face lights up as she walks into the room and when she sees her mum and dad sharing the hospital bed together.

Instantly, Jughead gets up off the bed, walking over to his father and daughter with the biggest of grins.

“Hi bubba!” Jughead greets excitedly as he walks over to them, taking Emi’s hand into his from where she’d been clinging onto FP’s. Little Emi had been clinging onto her grandfather’s hand for security as he walked them through the unfamiliarity of the hospital corridors over the last few minutes.

However, before Jughead has a chance to pick up his two-year-old, FP throws his arms around his son in a brief, congratulatory man-hug before pulling away, as Emi races into her dad’s arms as soon as he holds them out to pick her up.

Meanwhile, after catching a quick glimpse of his brand new grandson, FP left the room promptly after dropping Emi off, giving the new family of four a few minutes together before he plans to return for a proper visit shortly.

Bringing her into his arms, Jughead holds his daughter close to him, rubbing her back soothingly, sensing that she’s feeling a little bewildered as her eyes dart around anxiously while he slowly walks her over to the hospital bed that Betty’s lying in.

“Hey, baby girl... I missed you” Betty coos, managing to sound warm and excited to see her firstborn even through her exhaustion as her husband brings their two-year-old over to where they’d been resting on the bed together.

“Be careful for mummy, bubba.”

Jughead says, whispering to his daughter with caution as her sets her down beside Betty, lowering Emi down on the hospital bed to be with them. However, Jughead doesn’t sit down beside them just yet, instead getting up again to introduce Emi to her little brother who had only just been settled into his crib in the corner of the room.

After collecting his sleeping son from where he is wrapped up tightly in the generic hospital blankets that his parents are _convinced_ don’t look anywhere near as good around any other baby currently in the hospital as they do around _him_ , Jughead rocks the newborn in his arms for a few moments before bringing him over to his girls where Betty is cuddling Emi on her hospital bed.

“Look, bubba... _Look_. It’s Cooper... He’s your baby brother, Emi. You’re a big sister” Jughead coos in little more as a whisper as he joins his girls on the hospital bed, returning to his own spot beside his wife and their daughter who is sandwiched between them, with his son in his arms.

Upon Jughead joining them with the blanket-wrapped baby in his arms, both of Emi’s parents don’t take their eyes off of _her_ as they watch their little girls face in the first few moments with her new brother...

Emi’s face isn’t joyful, nor is it upset as she looks at the sleeping baby in her father’s arms, watching as she becomes a little startled in the moments when he squirms, even just a little.

While neither Betty nor Jughead know exactly _what_ is going through the two-year-old’s head in that moment, _confusion_ is probably the most accurate description as to the expression that is being conveyed on her face.

Then, after a while of watching, Emi’s gaze begins to move as she looks up to her amused parents, then down to her brother, back up to her parents and down again, over and over again...

#

Barely half-an-hour later FP returned to his daughter-in-laws hospital room for a proper visit with the little family and to meet his new grandchild properly.

By this point, any interest, or confusion even, in her brother had worn off now seeing as Emi has just dozed off to sleep in her mother’s arms on the hospital bed, seeming to have quickly grown bored with her baby brother.

“Cooper _Forsythe_ Jones, hey?” FP utters, looking down to his grandson in his arms. “What a good, strong name.”

Watching as the grandfather rocks his first grandson, Betty’s head is resting against her husband’s shoulder while their daughter is laying there, sleeping against her exhausted body.

“Mm... Our little law-firm baby” Betty just replies with a tired smile, making light of her and Jughead’s only concern after they’d named their son.

Meanwhile, looking down to the newborn baby in his arms, taking in his small features, his head full of hair, his Jones nose and the glimmer of blue when the baby’s eyes peek open for just a moment, it fills FP with nostalgia, taking him back to twenty years ago.

“I can’t get over how much he looks like you as a baby, boy” FP says as he looks over to the young couple on the bed, focusing on his son.

The remark from the grandfather-of-two brings a smile to both Jughead and Betty’s faces as he analyses their creation.

“Doesn’t he just? He’s pretty good at getting his point across loudly like his dad, too” Betty responds between a tired yawn.

FP can’t help but chuckle at his daughter-in-law’s comment, elaborating on it in a way that only brings a look of feigned annoyance to his son’s face as he tries to fight off the pride etched into his expression as hearing his son’s resemblance to himself.

“Jughead was a screamer as a baby, too. Well, he never really stopped, did he?”

Once again, Betty has to stop herself from chuckling too loud with Emi sleeping on her, trying to adjust herself just a little as she shifts her exhausted and aching body, containing her amusement from her father-in-law.

Then, with another proud smile as he looks down to the baby that he’s gently rocking in his arms, FP exhales a content sigh, concluding his analysis and his observations with a simple statement.

“Well, he might be a ‘ _Cooper’_ , but he’s all _Jones_...”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a boy! I hope you all like his name! I've had his gender/name decided since before I even finished writing 'The Secrets Deep Within'. 
> 
> Next one: The Jones family battle a variety of disruptions upon returning home as a family of four.


	9. Disruptions

**9\. Disruptions**

The day after he was born, Betty and Cooper were discharged from the hospital, returning home as a family of four the very first time.

It had taken Emi a good week of reminders from her parents that her brother's name was 'Cooper' and not just 'baby'. Then, following that first week, his name had eventuated from 'baby' to 'Coopey', a nickname that all three of them had taken to after following Emi's lead.

While Emi had not been that fussed with or interested in her baby brother upon their first meeting, things changed after they brought him home from hospital. All of a sudden the two-year-old started to see her baby brother as a new toy, quickly growing besotted with him.

Emi often tried to play around him, talking to him, showing him her toys and being interested in even just watching Betty feed him, change him or settle him down.

His big sister had also given Cooper a voice, frequently telling one or both of her parents that ' _Cooper wants..._ ', which typically happened to be exactly what  _she_  wants or Emi is asking for, too, ever so coincidentally...

However, Betty has needed to keep a close eye on Emi  _constantly_  to make sure the two-year-old isn't trying to hug him to death or she isn't forcing his little fingers open to hold onto her toys or she isn't trying to pick him up without one of her parent's assistance or she isn't trying to poke her fingers in his eyes or she isn't trying to cram all of her own babies and dolls into Cooper's bouncer with him. And that's when she's  _not_  bellowing into his ear or playing around noisily while he's trying to sleep.

In fact, if Betty had a dollar for every time she'd had to say the words " _gentle, Emi!"_  she'd never have to work another day in her life, not even counting each time her husband had said the same two words, too.

Thankfully though, as she adjusted to life with caring for two young children it had been incredibly useful for Betty that the two were often in the same room, at the same time, thanks to Emi's interest in her new toy that was her baby brother, never straying too far from him.

However, while Emi had grown to adore her baby brother, as the weeks went by, Cooper seemed to  _fear_  her, sensing whenever his big sister was near...

Almost as soon as she'd touch him or press a messy kiss to his forehead or even just as soon as she would walk into the room, the newborn would begin to cry or become upset whenever his big sister was near. It was almost as though he'd come to know and expect that Emi being near meant he  _knew_  that he was going to be disturbed by her in one way or another.

In fact, after several weeks of hearing her parents telling anyone who held Cooper and even just each other: " _aw, he likes that"_ or " _he likes you..."_  an offended Emi made a declaration with her arms crossed in front of her, looking annoyed.

"Coopey no like Emi."

Emi seemed to be both a little hurt and a little offended for the rest of her day despite her parents reassurances that: " _of course he likes you, Emi... you just need to remember to be_ _ **gentle**_   _with him_ ". However by the next day all seemed to be forgotten and the two-year-old returned to adoring her baby brother.

#

In addition to fearing how her two-year-old would take to being a big sister, one of Betty's main concerns during her pregnancy with her second child had been the impact it would have on her husband's relationship with Emi seeing as they'd be welcoming  _their_  first biological child. While he had tried to reassure her of it during her pregnancy, Betty really had  _nothing_  to worry about...

After all, despite her concerns about the impact that Cooper's arrival would have on Jughead's bond with Emi, the father and daughter duo had only grown  _closer_  since returning home with Cooper.

While Betty was busy with Cooper who needed her especially at his age as she worked around feedings and developing a routine with him, Jughead had taken charge with looking after their eldest child predominantly and trying to maintain the routine that they had already set for her since bringing their second child home as his wife focused on the new baby.

So, as soon as she managed to settle her three-week-old son back down again after being woken up by his sister when she had called out for their mum to put a movie on for her, Betty was fearful of the loud two-year-old waking him again; as had been the case from almost the day that they brought their son home from the hospital.

Emi was still young, too, and she hadn't quite grasped the concept of 'inside voices' just yet. Most of the time she isn't deliberately loud or boisterous. However, she is just loud enough that it means that she is frequently disturbing her baby brother.

"I swear, if she wakes him again..." Betty murmurs to her husband through a yawn, carrying the baby monitor that feeds through from Cooper's bassinet in their bedroom along with her.

Jughead just gives Betty a tired, half-smile in response from where he's set up at his desk and where he had been typing away with Emi watching 'Toy Story 2' on the lounge just behind him.

They'd had an awful night last night with Cooper's late night antics, refusing to settle down as easily as he normally would. Then, when they'd finally gotten Cooper to sleep, another little visitor toddled into their room at three AM, her eyes moist after she'd woken up from her big-girl bed to a nightmare that had her unsettled. In the end, they'd been too tired to try and fight her, so Jughead and Betty ended up with Emi between them until Cooper woke up again just half an hour later and then again just before six.

"I'll take Emi out for a walk and maybe to the park for a bit so she doesn't wake him again. You should try and sleep while he is, too..."

As Jughead gets up, gathering the essentials for their outing, he shares their plans with Emi behind him: "up you get bubba... You're coming to the park with daddy."

The two-year-old didn't need to be told twice after hearing one of her favourite words in the world.

After a loving kiss of appreciation to her husband's cheek and a goodbye to her daughter, Betty too doesn't have to be told twice before she quietly enters into their bedroom where Cooper is still sleeping soundly, planning to join him in napping for just as long as he is...

#

A little under an hour after Jughead and Emi left for the park and after Betty went back to bed, the young mum is woken up again by loud knocks at the door that wake both her and Cooper this time.

Instantly picking Cooper up out of his bassinet as she tries to settle and hush him on her way to the front door, Betty curses her husband for leaving his keys behind until she opens the door, only to find two completely different people than her husband and their daughter waiting on the other side.

"Mr. and Mrs. Clayton...  _Hi_... How are you?" Betty greets, looking between the couple as she bounces her son in her arms drowsily trying to settle him even more frantically now.

Betty hadn't seen the Clayton's -her daughter's biological paternal grandparents- since a few weeks after Chuck's funeral when they'd moved out of town for a fresh start and a new beginning after burying their son.

"We're well, thank you, Betty" Chuck's mother replies with a warm smile, looking to the baby in the young mum's arms, clearly more than a little perplexed.

While trying to wrap her head around her surprise visitors, Betty notes the look on the other woman's face, realising that she's clearly  _not_ holding the child that they were here to see.

"Sorry, Jughead's actually taken Emi out to the park... This is her little brother, Cooper" Betty explains, bouncing the upset baby in her arms.

The look on Chuck's mothers face is a little warmer than the look on the face of the man beside her, while Betty continues to bounce her son in her arms, calming him down.

"Oh, he's wonderful...  _Congratulations_."

With a small smile flickering over her face at the comment as she tries to soothe Cooper, Betty just utters a distracted: " _thanks..."_

Betty really  _does_ appreciate the comment, knowing that the two don't have the same vested interest in her son as they do her daughter, prompting her to elaborate on that very point.

"... But, you're not really here for Cooper, are you?"

The couple standing on her doorstep exchange a sheepish glance before answering her.

"You're right... We were hoping we'd be able to see Emi. Although you mentioned it around the time of the funeral, we thought we'd wait a little while to allow things to die down a bit. We thought that us trying to spend time with her might have been a bit of an inconvenience for you while she was still so little. Then with our move... But, if it still stands, we would be ever so grateful to take you up on your offer to spend some time with Emi."

Betty stands there, rocking Cooper in her arms a little distantly before she finally speaks up, despite the fact that she's just now heard the words that she'd been expecting to hear from her visitor since the minute that she saw who was standing on the other side of her front door.

"Oh, wow, okay,  _um_..."

Deep down, Betty stands by the offer that she'd put out there almost two years ago, knowing that it is the right thing to do. After all, Chuck's parents and his little sister are just as blameless as Betty herself is for what happened, resulting in the existence of little Emi.

However, despite her best intentions to do the right thing by everyone, Betty doesn't know how or when or where she's going to be able to. Not to mention, there's a selfish part of Betty that wants her daughter to have nothing to do with anything or anyone remotely linked to Clayton name and while she doesn't blame  _them_ at all, Betty doesn't exactly love to spend time with her rapist's parents... Added to that, she knows how churned up Jughead gets whenever he is with the Clayton's or even simply whenever their name is raised, feeling insecure from the company of his daughter's blood relatives, knowing that technically he is not one of them.

Then, with a deep breath that she exhales slowly, Betty looks between the couple who would be about the same age as her own parents,

"I'll have to talk to my husband about it first but then I'll get back to you, possibly about meeting tomorrow? But, just know that like I've said in the past, Jughead is Emi's father. I know you are related to Emi, too, but if you want to spend time with my daughter, you have to respect that Chuck is  _not_  and will not ever be recognised as her father."

While the Clayton's had been accepting and warm before that point, Betty's warning did quite clearly make them grow a little more uncomfortable. However, it was important and it had to be said if they wanted the young parents to even  _consider_  them being permitted to spend time with their two-year-old.

#

When Jughead and Emi returned home only half an hour or so after the Clayton's left, Betty didn't hear the pep talk Jughead was giving their two-year-old on the other side of the door, reminding her that she needed to be "really, really, really quiet"  _because_  "noise makes Cooper wake up and that makes mummy grumpy".

Emi had nodded through her father's words and again when he doubled check that she understood.

However, what Betty  _did_  hear was the words that Emi bellowed out excitedly as soon as Jughead opened the door, as though she'd  _completely_  forgotten every word her dad had just said...

"MUMMY! ME HERE DADDY!"

Her daughter's jumble of words and her semi-sentence brings a smile to face. But, Betty can't help but wish that the father-daughter duo had been the knock at the door that she'd heard about an hour ago when she'd felt furious with her husband for thinking he'd left his key at home at the time, only to open the door to a whole other can of worms...

Hearing Jughead and Emi walk through the home where he's telling her off for talking loudly  _despite_  the multiple pep talks he'd given her while they were out, the father-daughter duo walk through to the lounge where Betty's feeding Cooper.

"Obedience. Emilie Jones's strong point..." Jughead states sarcastically, upon entering the room and spotting his wife on the lounge.

However as soon as he sees her, Jughead can tell that something's wrong or something has happened within three seconds flat, simply from the look on her face.

After Emi races over, giving her mother's knee a quick hug and stopping to watch her baby brother for a few moments, Emi is quick to become distracted with her toys in the corner, leaving Jughead to sit beside Betty and Cooper, touching his wife's arm with his hand as she feeds their son.

"Betts? What's wrong?"

Tearing her eyes away from Emi who she has followed from the moment she entered the room, Betty exhales a heavy sigh before turning to look at her husband.

"The  _Clayton's_  visited while you were out... They want to see Emi."

#

Jughead hated the idea. She knew he would.

They talked, they argued, they discussed what was fair for the Clayton's and most importantly they'd weighed up what was best for Emi. Then, in the end, they had decided to make plans to meet at  _Pop's_  tomorrow for lunch with the idea of trying to allow the Clayton's to have a little bit of time with Emi while they were just a few tables over, keeping her in their sight.

Emi had clutched onto the security of her father, clinging onto Jughead's neck as he held her in his arms when the three complete strangers to the two-year-old hurried over and began fussing over her from the moment that the Jones family entered the small town diner.

"It's okay, bubba..." he'd reassured his daughter, pressing a kiss into her hair as she clung to him, nestling her head against his shoulder for safety.

Jughead and Betty had done a swap, he putting Emi down on the ground with another reassuring kiss to her locks before Betty handed him their sleeping son's capsule. Then, Betty had taken Emi's hand and walked her over to the Clayton's table. They'd backed off upon sensing her fear walking in, with Betty then setting her daughter in her lap as Emi slowly warmed up to the Clayton's with the comfort of her mother being there.

Then, after about twenty minutes, Betty pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead, setting her down to sit in the booth alongside her aunt Chloe who was only about ten years older than her, telling Emi to play with them for a few minutes and reassuring her that mummy and daddy are still right here.

Betty could see the scowl on her husband's face from across the room when she stood up from the Clayton's table with a deep breath, struggling to get up and walk away from her daughter like that as she returned to Jughead and Cooper where her boys sat nearby.

Jughead  _hated_  the emotion on Chuck's mothers face as she talked to and played with the child that was half of her late son. Jughead  _hated_  the fact that the smaller age gap between the two of them made it easier for Emi to play with Chloe than with her other two aunts. Really, Jughead just  _hated_  that his daughter had  _anything_  to do with her other family; her family that had nothing to do with him.

Emi lasted with the Clayton's for almost an hour before she'd started demanding her parents again. Then, with a trip via the playground on the way home at the Clayton's request, the outing was over and the family of four were back to just four.

After all, seeing how much their daughter had enjoyed it -being spoiled by her grandparents and spending time with her aunt Chloe who she adored especially who knew all the tricks to entertain her- had hurt both Jughead and Betty a bit.

But, at the end of the day, Betty felt at peace with the fact that she'd done the right thing by the people who were just as blameless in their son's actions as she was.

#

However, despite her sense of peace at feeling as though she'd made the right decision and the best choice for everyone involved, a few hours after falling asleep Betty was jolted awake.

And, surprisingly, it  _wasn't_  Cooper's cries that were the culprit this time.

Rather it was the same fear and nightmare that felt all too real, all too familiar and all too horrific to handle that woke her up, leaving her panting through her short, raspy breaths and with moist, clammy, sweating skin.

Jughead woke up within moments of her, immediately knowing what was happening as she tried to keep her breathing quiet as she simultaneously tried to calm herself down, reassuring herself that it was just a nightmare, she was okay and she was safe and sound in the comfort of their room and their bed with her husband by her side and their son sleeping in the bassinet in their room.

Despite the fact that the most horrific night of her life was almost three years ago now, it still felt so vivid and so real to Betty, especially in the nightmares that continued to disturb her through the night.

It wasn't as bad as it was after the attack initially but her nightmares were still frequent enough, waking her perhaps every one to two months. Or, every now and then there'd be a streak when it was particularly bad, leaving her waking up in the same way two or three times within just a week.

After all, her nightmares are recurring scars of what still haunts her both when prompted by reminders of the event and even when not.

"Hey, hey, hey... You're okay... It's okay... It was just a nightmare... You're okay, Betts... I'm right here... Everything's okay... You're safe, Betty... I won't let anything happen to you...You're okay."

Jughead brought his wife and her smaller body into his arms, holding her securely against him, while stroking her hair, trying to calm her. It's what he'd found to be the most soothing and reassuring to her when she wakes from her nightmares.

Betty's breathing seems to calm from hearing her husband's heart beat from where her head is pressed against his chest, knowing how she needs to be held, the words she needs to hear and the way he can comfort her after much trial and error over the last three years since the traumatic event that continues to haunt her deep down. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! There'll be a bit of a jump in time with the next one but you'll find that with a few of the ones that follow seeing as this is just a collection of moments from their lives rather than a chapter-by-chapter story. 
> 
> Next chapter: A funeral (don't get too worried), an anniversary and a milestone in Cooper's life.


	10. Family

  1. **Family**



Betty got the call from her mother on a Saturday morning. 

“So, what’d my favourite mother-in-law have to say?” Jughead asks, trying to pick the look on his wife’s face after failing to recognise the tone of her voice during her conversation from almost as soon as she answered the call, greeting her mother. 

Joke all he likes; Jughead really didn’t have too many qualms with his mother-in-law. After all, they’d gained a mutual respect and understanding with one another during the first months of Jughead and Betty’s married life that they had spent living with her parents and sharing their home.

After glancing up to look at Betty’s expression momentarily, Jughead’s attention is snapped up once again from where he had been feeding his son the puree that Betty had made in bulk earlier that week. As his son’s chubby hands begin to pound on the table of his highchair, Jughead scoops up another spoonful of mushy peas on the plastic spoon that he feeds to Cooper who gobbles it up eagerly. 

“My grandpa just passed away... My mum’s dad.”

Placing the spoon and bowl of puree down on the dining table and out of Cooper’s reach, Jughead immediately gets up, walking over to his wife as he wraps his arms around her consolingly. 

“I’m so sorry...” Jughead murmurs into her hair as he runs his hand up and down her back. “Are you okay?” 

With a sharp inhale of air, Betty just nods with a small, appreciative smile on her face as she looks up to her husband. 

“Thanks... I’m okay. Mum was never close to her parents so we never really had too much to do with my grandparents.” 

Interrupting his parent’s conversation, Cooper continues to pound on the table, grunting hungrily as the six-month-old baby tries to catch his dad’s attention again. 

Looking over Betty with concern once more, Jughead tries to determine if there’s any lie to her  _ ‘I’m okay’, _ pressing another kiss to the top of her hair before he returns to Cooper who begins bouncing in his seat with excitement just from the sight of Jughead returning to the table again, knowing that means food’s coming. 

“The funeral’s next Friday in North Carolina... Polly and the twins are going down with my aunt so my parents have said the kids and I can travel with them” Betty explains, looking a little drawn as she takes a seat beside her husband who is feeding their son.

“That’s okay, I’ll ask for some time off and then we can all go down together.”

Despite his offer, Betty reaches her hand out, touching Jughead’s free arm, stroking it with her thumb as she gives him an appreciative smile while he feeds Cooper with the other. 

“No, Jug. You don’t have to do that... I’ll be okay. While I’ll go and pay my respects, like I said, I wasn’t that close to either of my grandparents; we never saw them all that much. Besides, we can’t really afford you taking that much time off work for the funeral and to travel to and from it. We’ll be okay.” 

Jughead knows she’s right. 

They can’t really afford him taking that time off, especially not after he’d had to take most of his paid leave a few months back when Emi got croup and they’d had to pay a couple of trips to the hospital. Besides, now that she’d mentioned it again, Jughead knew that Betty had told him in the past that she was never all that close with her grandparents and he knows from experience that they’d never really shown up for holidays or grandparents days at school.

However, despite the sense and logic that his wife is telling him, it’s the prospect of being away from his family for four days that Jughead’s struggling with... 

#

Betty could  _ see _ who was the most upset of their family of four when it came to saying goodbye for a few days.

Cooper slept through the entire thing, being handed from his dad’s arms -after many cuddles and kisses- over to his mum without batting an eyelid.

Emi was probably a little bit  _ too _ excited for the occasion. After all, ever since Betty had told her that she’d be seeing her cousins, Emi basically thought that going to her great-grandfather’s funeral was essentially going to be a holiday for her to play with Polly’s twins who were just a few months older than she was.  

Then, watching her husband wave them off from the driveway, Betty could quite clearly see him struggling as they drove away.

So, throughout the four days that they were gone, Betty had endeavoured to keep him as in the loop as much as she could. 

She’d send him the silly photos and selfies that Emi would take of herself on her phone. She’d send him photos of where they’d stop for lunch along with what she’d chosen for lunch. She’d send him photos of -or selfies with- their babies. And, she’d send him a stream of commentary of their life over those days. 

_ ‘We just drove past a stable. Mum asked Emi what noise a horse makes... She oinked. I swear we educate her, don’t we?’ _

_ ‘Soooo we thought Cooper liked the car... Apparently he doesn’t like any more than forty minutes of the car. We may all have long-term hearing loss by the end of this trip.’  _

_ ‘Miss you... Doesn’t feel quite right just being the three of us xxx’ _

_ ‘Coops nappy is something resembling a weapon of mass destruction... It’s your turn to change him, yeah?’  _

_ ‘Emi’s changed his name from Coopey to Poopy.’ _

In addition to the frequent messages and photos over those days, Betty called her husband a couple of times a day; one morning, at lunch time another day and then each night to say goodnight to Emi and Cooper.

So come the third night, Betty put herself and the kids to bed for an early night after the funeral. She was just going to FaceTime her husband for them to say goodnight to him before she’d read them a couple of bedtime stories and hope they’d pass out like she wanted to. 

Jughead answered the call almost instantly when he saw his wife’s name and face pop up on the screen of his phone from where he was crashed on the lounge at home, eating his dinner of beans on toast in front of the TV. 

“Enjoying the bachelor life?” Betty asks with a little grin. “Looks like you managed to get all of the other women out of the house just in time for our call.” 

Quite truthfully, the first night  _ was _ bliss... No waking up to Cooper crying in the night. No night-time visits from Emi. No kicks and bruising in the stomach from one of the kids climbing into bed with them. No wife telling him to put the toilet seat down. But, come day  _ two,  _ starting with waking up to the loneliness of a cold and empty spot beside him, the young father and husband quickly came to realise how much he wouldn’t give up his little family –the good, the bad and the challenging- for anything else in the world. 

“Funny... Me and Johnny Depp are having a great night here.”

Betty just grinned; too tired to crack a joke about why he didn’t invite her to join before Emi burst into the frame of her iPhone screen along with her mother. 

“Hi daddy!” she squealed with delight, loud enough to disturb her baby brother who was lying on the other side of Betty, just beginning to doze off.  

Emi stole the phone away from her mother as she talked to Jughead for a few minutes, answering all the questions he asked her about her day while Betty made sure the pillows that were keeping Cooper on the bed until she feeds him and puts him down to sleep in his port-a-cot for the night are intact.  

Then, Betty stole the phone back from her daughter, laying down on the spring-filled mattress to pan out on herself and their babies either side of her. 

“Anyway, we’ve got to say goodnight to daddy now...” Betty says, holding her phone up to show all of them. Sadness fills Emi’s face while she waves at the screen as Cooper kicks his legs about with excitement at seeing his father’s familiar face on Betty’s phone. 

“Bye daddy. Wuv you” Emi sulks, receiving a similar goodnight back in response from Jughead while Betty tries to wrap up the call, instructing them to wave goodnight to their dad as Betty holds up Cooper’s hand to gently wave like they’d been trying to teach him lately. 

“Night guys! Love you all” Jughead says, waving animatedly, directing this goodnight mostly to his kids laying on either side of his wife before he turns his attention to her. 

“Look after our babies, Betts. Give them a big kiss and a hug from me. I love you guys so much.” 

Betty reassures she will, wrapping the call up as she holds her phone up to her lips, pursing her lips with a kiss.

“Love you!” 

#

Then, before they knew it, the little family of four was back together, reunited and taking on the world together once again... 

Just a few months later and on the morning of their third wedding anniversary, the young couple’s day started not quite as they’d been expecting it to with cries from their ten-month-old being the reason they brought him into bed with them; their day not starting nearly as romantically as what they’d both been hoping for. 

Unlike their first and second anniversaries when Emi had been babysat by Betty’s parents and then their best friends consecutively to allow them to spend one year home alone along with the next on a short getaway, this year Betty and Jughead had decided to celebrate their anniversary  _ with _ their kids.  

Holding her phone up as she snaps photos and records moments from where she’s still laying on her pillow, Betty watches as her boys play together with a smile. 

Jughead’s smile only increases as he tickles his son who continues to crack up and laugh more and more hysterically from his dad tickling his belly and his toes. 

While she can’t stop herself from savouring the moment and seeing the happiness that the two boys in her life are inspiring in each other, after a few moments, Betty stops recording and touches a hand to her husband’s bare arm. 

“That’s enough, babe. I just finished feeding him... If you’re not careful you’ll be cleaning up a warm milkshake in a few minutes.” 

His wife’s words are warning enough for Jughead as his face scrunches up, immediately slowing down on the tickling and opting to pepper kisses over their son instead, over his chubby arms and on the soles of his little feet. 

After a final kiss to the top of Cooper’s head, Jughead flops back down beside his wife with their son sitting up on the mountain of covers on their bed between them. 

“Me! Me!” Cooper exclaims, emphasising the words as he pounds his little arms in the air. 

Betty gasps, looking between her husband and her son with joy on her face. 

“Me! That’s his first word, Jug!”

However, contrary to his mother’s delight, Cooper’s other parent is nowhere near as impressed by it. 

“ _ Me _ ? That doesn’t count as a first word. He’s not saying it as a  _ word _ ; he’s saying it as a  _ sound _ . Either that or our son is the most self-absorbed kid alive.” 

As if on command, Cooper repeats the word once again, looking between his parents as though he recognised the impact that it had had the first time he said it. 

Then, Betty just shoots her husband an unimpressed look at his response to what she felt was a big achievement for her baby boy, all of a sudden not feeling so sure either, but compensating by reaching out and stroking Cooper’s thin golden hair; the only evidence of  _ her _ in her second child. 

“You’re just still salty that Emi said ‘mama’ first... But, she took her first steps to  _ you _ , don’t forget.”

Then, looking over to her son, Betty addresses Cooper directly before sending a poked-out tongue her husband’s way. 

“Don’t listen to him, Coop. Daddy’s just a pessimist.” 

#

A little later on in the day after a relaxed morning at home together and once they’d given Emi and Cooper lunch, the family of four made their way to the playground, where Betty set their picnic lunch up while Jughead pushed the kids on the swings. 

As soon as Jughead saw that Betty was all ready and waiting for him on the picnic rug with pillows, glasses of champagne (or sparkling apple juice, given that the playground was a dry zone) and the most exquisite looking cheese platter, Jughead told the kids that that was it and that daddy’s arms were getting sore. 

After, unbuckling Emi, she immediately raced off to play on the other equipment independently; her parents still can’t believe she’ll be three in just a few days time. Then, Jughead carried Cooper over to the sandpit near where their picnic rug has been set up for the baby to crawl around and play in as the couple watch their kids during their anniversary date. 

The young parents enjoy their date as they frolic on the picnic rug together, cuddling up as they share the cheese platter, the glasses of sparkling apple juice, the pulled pork sliders that Betty prepared earlier and lastly the chocolate-coated strawberries between kisses and embraces that grow a little too heated as Betty pulls away from her husband regretfully. 

“I think we need to cool it down a bit, there are kids around here, Juggie.” 

Then, the young couple don’t have too long to groan over their separation before Betty glances over, witnessing Cooper’s knees sink into the sand as he crawls along, flopping face-down first into it as he begins to cry. 

Betty is up on her feet instantly, picking her son up, checking his mouth for any excess sand and brushing the sand off of him as she rocks him in her arms, bringing him over to the picnic rug with Jughead, trying to console her baby and entice the ten-month-old with a water cracker from their platter. 

In that time and as soon as she heard the cry that she recognises from experience, Emi races over from the slippery dip that she’s just slid down, hurrying over to the picnic rug and joining her parents with her baby brother. 

“Are you okay, Coopey?” Emi asks with concern as she pats her brother’s shoulder consolingly before she looks over to her dad. “Is he okay?” 

Smiling at his daughter’s concern for her sibling, Jughead just nods his head. 

“Yeah, he’s okay, bubba. I think he just got a bit of a fright. Thanks for checking.” 

Emi nods understandingly, reaching over her mother to give Cooper a comforting hug.

After the sandpit incident that brought both their kids over to join them on their picnic rug, neither Emi nor Cooper decided to leave upon discovering their parents trove of food that they’d been sharing. 

So, as Betty watched their kids, Jughead laid down on the picnic rug, succumbing to his food coma from the amount he’d eaten, with his family nestled beside him. Meanwhile, Cooper was going to town on the foods from the cheese platter that Betty was feeding him as Emi was styling her dad’s dark locks while he dozed, being gentle enough not to disturb him as she shaped his hair in different ways from where he’s laying there on his side on the picnic rug. 

After a while, Cooper’s chubby little hand held a cracker out as the same ‘word’ that he’d uttered earlier that day makes another appearance. 

“Me! Me!” 

This time, the same word catches Emi’s attention and she pauses from styling Jughead’s hair, looking over to her little brother. 

“Yeah, Coopey... That’s me,  _ Emi _ ” then she looks to cracker in his outstretched hand with a smile. “That for me? Thank you.” 

Watching the heartwarming exchange between her babies, Betty’s heart melts like butter as she releases a little gasp, reaching an arm out to shake her husband awake upon realising that their son is not so much saying ‘me’ as he is ‘ _ mi’ _ ...

“Jug!” Betty whispers sharply, as his blue eyes flicker open, wincing at the sudden light of the sun. “Juggie... He’s not saying ‘me’... Cooper’s  _ trying _ to say ‘E _ mi _ ’. His first word is ‘ _ Emi’ _ ...” 

As Jughead looks over to Cooper proudly, a smile of similar scale to Betty’s fills his face. After all, upon realising that his big sister’s name was his very first word, the young father is possibly even  _ more _ proud of his son than he would have been if ‘dada’ was his first word. 

Meanwhile, with her eyes growing glazed and filled with emotion from the moment, Betty just clutches at her heart with a dramatic sigh as she looks between her beautiful little family and the love between them. 

“ _ Oh _ my heart...” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next one: Betty and Jughead struggle with questions she begins to raise. Then, Emi gets herself into trouble.


	11. Differences

**11\. Differences**

The older that Emi and Cooper grew to be, the more and more defined and apparent their differences and little personalities became.

At four, Emi was a spirited, bold and kind little girl. She had beautiful golden skin, a head-full of light brown curls and the deepest brown eyes.

Meanwhile, her two-year-old brother was her polar opposite with his fair skin, his sparkling blue orbs and their mother's golden hair. Cooper was an incredibly sweet little boy, though he was rather clingy towards his family and grew to be quite shy and reserved around people he isn't so familiar with.

However, the older that they grew, the more that Emi began to notice the physical differences between herself and her family members, and it was breaking her parent's heart.

It had all started one night in the lead up to bedtime in the Jones household...

Betty is busy putting Cooper to bed as Jughead is in the next room over with their daughter,  _attempting_ to comb through and brush Emi's hair before bedtime where he'll read her a book -or ten- to get her to sleep.

It's as he stands behind her, absentmindedly combing through her hair when the little four-year-old -whose eyes seem to have been opened to and noticing all sorts of new things recently- raises the question to her dad that he had not only not been  _expecting_ to hear, but it's the same question that he had been hoping  _not_ to hear from her.

"Emi's different to daddy."

Like a deer in the headlights, Jughead looks to his daughter through the glass mirror, watching her for many moments before he swallows uncomfortably and speaks up, taking the most obvious path of reason in his response to her.

"Yeah, bubba... Daddy's a boy like Cooper and Emi's a girl like mummy."

The little girl's face scrunches up as though she knows that that's not what she'd been trying to say, but she can't  _quite_ put her finger on why not seeing as she can't even dispute her father's words.

Then, Emi stays silent for a long, long time as Jughead continues brushing through her hair, hoping that he has done enough to silence her by answering her question for her. But, more than that, he's hoping that she isn't thinking what he fears she is...

With a frown on her little face, Emi eventually just shakes her head in response to her father's answer of a few minutes ago.

Pointing to her own features in the mirror, Emi is trying to piece it together as she examines herself.

"No daddy, Emi's  _different_... Emi's different eyes and Emi's different hair..."

"Everyone's a little bit different, bubba. Emi's different to daddy and daddy's different to mummy and mummy's different to Cooper... That's okay."

But, despite Jughead's anticlimactic reassurances that he's trying to use to dispel while her vocabulary is small and vague, he can't help but  _know_ that that's not quite what his four-year-old is trying to find the words for.

Then, after another little pause as she looks between herself and her father in the mirror again, Emi just concludes her thoughts with the only two words that she knows how to state it.

"Emi's  _different_."

And, as he puts the brush down before leaning down to wrap her in a big hug, those two words break Jughead's heart...

#

After reading Emi to sleep that night with great difficulty as he battled the lump in his throat, Jughead eventually pressed a kiss to the top of her head and crept out of her room the moment that he thought that his four-year-old had dozed off.

Immediately, he headed for his bedroom where his wife is already off-duty and in bed after bathing, feeding and putting Cooper to sleep, now channel surfing on her side of the bed.

Closing the door behind him, Jughead flops down beside her with a heavy sigh.

"Emi was asking me why we're different tonight... She said she's different to daddy."

Partway through Jughead's explanation, he exhales another sigh while his wife immediately turns off the TV, scooting a little closer to him on their bed, touching a hand to the side of his face lovingly while he continues to explain it further.

"She's starting to notice that we look different to each other... I blame all those stupid spot-the-difference books that we've been letting her read."

"What did you say to her?"

Betty's own eyes look wide and filled with fear and concern as she waits for her husband to answer her question for her.

"I tried to brush it off and say about differences with boys and girls, how everyone is different and how it's a good thing. But, I could tell that that wasn't what she meant and that she was trying to find a way to say that. In the end she just said that 'Emi's different' again..."

Nodding as she shuffles closer to him, Betty slowly runs her hand up and down his thigh as she tries to console him, hearing the weight to his words and the way that he's suffering after the difficult question from their daughter that evening.

"It broke my heart, Betts... We  _are_  different."

Despite the truth, every part of both Jughead and Betty view Emi as  _their_ little girl and  _their_ daughter; she is. So, being reminded of anything other than that is like a stab in the gut.

Shuffling that little bit closer to her husband again, Betty exhales a sigh of her own as she rests her head against his chest, her hand continuing to stroke as though it's on autopilot.

"I know... As much as we both wish that we could, nothing can change that. But, it's not the important part... Nothing else beyond the fact that you  _are_  her father matters, Jug. Besides,  _she_  probably wasn't even thinking about the differences between the two of you like we are, though."

With a small sigh at his wife's words, Jughead just nods as he lays there from where he collapsed down on their bed as he runs his hand through Betty's hair from where she's laying on his chest.

"Yeah, I know, you're right. But what I wouldn't give to change that... I know she's mine in every other way. So, when I'm reminded that there's that tiny way that she's  _not_ , it hurts."

"So many men can make a kid, Jug. But, the most important ones are the men who make a  _father_. You were a father to Emi, long before you became a father to Cooper."

#

The following day and from the moment that Emi accidentally woke Cooper up that morning as she danced around loudly after waking up and getting out of bed, Betty just  _knew_ that it was going to be a long, long day...

The two siblings who were typically as close as friends weren't playing well today and their mother was  _convinced_ that they were deliberately choosing to play with or snatch the toys that the other wanted to play with from each other.

Then, the brother-sister duo seemed to pair up while Betty was endeavouring to clean the house, making sure that she got  _nowhere_  with cleaning and that the table or the floors or the room just about looked  _worse_ than it had when she first started.

So, a little while before she'd be putting them down for their naps, Betty decided to take the kids out for a walk, thinking that the fresh air and the change of scenery would be  _just_ what they all needed…

#

Betty hadn't originally been intending to go past the playground during their outing and she had been just planning on sticking to the walking track. However, after messaging her husband to see what time his lunch break is today, Betty decided that on their way to the playground they'd make a detour past  _Pop's_  to visit him.

Walking over to and then into the local diner that her family knows ever-so well, Emi exhales a gasp as the three of them enter the diner before the four-year-old looks to her brother in his stroller that she's holding onto the edge of as she walks alongside it.

"Look Coopey! It's daddy's work!"

The two-year-old seems to respond to his big sister's words with a little gasp of his own as he looks around the room for the man that they are both looking for as Betty releases him from the stroller's grip.

Then, from the moment that his kids spot Jughead on the other side of the diner, there's a chorus of excited squeals as " _daddy_!" and " _dadddd_ " sounds throughout the establishment while Emi and Cooper race over to him, going berserk with excitement, while Betty embarrassedly trails behind them with flushed cheeks but a heart full of love.

Putting the plate that he's holding down, Jughead glances at his watch, checking whether he's due for his break yet before meeting his kids halfway with his arms open.

The scene playing out in the middle of  _Pop's_ leaves a few diners cooing over the moment with their hands on their heart as they watch on, while Betty tries to coerce her little family into a booth in the corner as opposed to staying there in the middle of the diner like goldfish on display.

Then, while Emi and Cooper are fighting over who gets to sit next to Jughead as they buzz with excitement from the novelty of seeing their dad at work, their parents exchange a quick kiss hello as the siblings eventually settle on Emi's suggestion of Jughead sitting in the middle of both of them, leaving Betty to sit on the other side of the booth on her own.

"Doesn't anyone want to sit next to mummy?" Jughead asks looking to Cooper on one side of him and then to Emi on the other while doing his best to sound sympathetic of Betty. However, deep down, Jughead sees it as a  _total_ parenting victory against his wife as he tries to hide the smug grin on his face, even more so as Emi rests her head against his arm while Cooper hooks his arm around Jughead's, both kids clinging onto him.

However, Betty just brushes it off, watching her babies with her husband as she slides into the other side of the booth across from them with only a slither of jealousy.

"To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't want to sit next to me if I spent all day, every day with  _me_ , either."

Jughead just tips his head in his wife's direction, silently conveying that he disagrees with her self-deprecating remark while his feet find hers beneath the table.

Then, as Jughead is busily looking between his son and his daughter as they babble on and talk to him, vying for his attention, Betty snaps a discreet photo of the three of them on the other side of the table, feeling her heart melting with love just a little.

Meanwhile, as he sat there and heard  _all_ about his family's day as they sat and ate lunch with each other during his lunch break, Jughead felt completely loved and adored by his children –like he was the  **most** important thing in their lives-  _until_  his wife mentioned the playground.

#

Later that night and as Jughead returned home smelling like burgers and grease when he walked into his family's home, he almost had to do a double-take upon noting the scene that he'd walked into.

Unlike the noises of laughter or squealing children or crying toddlers that he  _usually_ walked into, the house was dead silent when Jughead walked inside, finding Betty checking on the shepherd's pie, Emi sitting at the dining table looking both bored and annoyed while Cooper is sitting in a corner, reading himself a book, upside down.

You could hear a pin drop.

"It's like a ghost town in here..." Jughead states as he walks inside, leaving a kiss on the top of both Emi and then Cooper's head before walking over pressing another to his wife's lips.

Putting the pot-handles down on the bench top with a hand on her hip, Betty looks between her husband and her daughter, providing Jughead with an explanation.

"Emi's thinking about her  _actions_."

As his own gaze is cast between Betty and Emi in a similar way, Jughead's expression scrunches into a frown as he tries to piece together what exactly he'd missed over the last few hours.

"What happened?"

Snatching his wrist up, Betty whisks him down the hallway to the spot where they can talk privately and in a whisper while they can still keep an eye on and see the kids.

Exhaling a sigh as she massages her fingers against her temple, Betty looks up to her husband with her emerald eyes looking a little fearful.

"Emi hit a kid today..."

" _What_?" Jughead hisses in a whisper, despite the fact that he'd heard  _exactly_  what she said.

Betty just nods in confirmation, exhaling another sigh. Meanwhile, her husband's eyes are cast out to the dining area where he watches his little girl and the subject of their conversation as Betty continues to explain what happened after she left  _Pop's_  and took their kids to the playground.

"Yeah... When I took them to the playground there was another little boy there. He was slightly older than her. I'd guess he'd be about six; I don't know why he wasn't at school, actually. Anyway, Emi and Cooper were mostly playing together. But, this little boy was a bit of a bully. He stole their play equipment, he played a bit rough but then it was only after he said something to Cooper which scared him, Emi went over and she hit him."

Seeing the seriousness on his wife's face, Jughead does have to hold back his pride at hearing how his daughter had faced a bigger, older boy in defense of her little brother.

"From what you're saying, it's sounding like the kid had it coming, Betts..."

"I know, he did, but she still shouldn't have  _hit_  him, Jug. We need to nip that in the bud. She can't think that any sort of violence is acceptable."

Jughead nods at what she's telling him. However, as he watches her intently, he reads between the lines of what she's  _really_  saying.

"You're thinking about Chuck, aren't you?"

Betty's emerald green eyes grow glazy as she glances away. She can't bring herself to acknowledge her husband's question, but he knows the answer anyway.

"She is  **not** like him. She will never  _be_ like him. She will never, ever have a trace of the evil that he did. We would not let her."

The young mother just nods in response to what her husband is telling her which, deep down, she knows is right, but she is just struggling to accept after the events of the day.

"I know... I know Emi's a good little girl and I know she was defending her brother. But, her hitting another kid just startled me, Jug... As much as we both deny it and even though it doesn't really matter to us at all, she  _is_  still half of him. It just startled me to think about her displaying any of his violence."

As he exhales a small sigh, Jughead runs his palms along her arms until he reaches her hands which he intertwines with one another's. Then, Jughead takes another step closer to her, their hands hanging between them as he looks her straight in the eye.

"She's our little girl, Betts... She's going to know right from wrong and good from bad. She is  _ours_. She is not -and never will be- like him."

Betty nods, eventually managing to cast her gaze up to him as they share a small smile.

"Jug? Do you think you could talk to her?"

In answer to her whispered question, Jughead just groans over-dramatically. After all, both he and Betty know full-well that he finds the serious talks and discipline one of the hardest parts of parenting two small children.

"Do I  _have_  to be a dad? Discipline is so much harder on me than it is on them..."

Betty chuckles softly at her husband's dramatics, sniffling and swiping at her nose as she gives his hands an extra squeeze of appreciation.

"I know, but you know that they both listen to you more. I'm telling them off seven thousand times a day so when it comes from you, it's like it means more. I don't know what is but you're a million times better at getting through to them... Please Jug?"

Looking down to his wife with centimetres now between them, Jughead slowly begins to nod. Then, as he looks her straight in the eye, he releases his hold on one of her hands in order to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear with a small, loving smile before he raises their hand that is still linked, pressing a kiss to it before letting go.

Then, looking over his shoulder and back to his wife as he walks out from the hallway and back to the dining table where Emi is still sulking with boredom, Jughead grins with his one condition that he puts to his wife.

"I'll do it on one condition... That you  _remember_  nurture over nature, Betts."

With a final grin, Jughead then turns his attention to his other girl who is moping at the table.

"Now, Miss Emilie... Come on, up you get... We're going for a walk."

Betty believes that he's right. She knows that he is. After all, watching their daughter stand up and follow her father out with her eyebrows furrowed and the scowl that hadn't left her face since they left the playground, Betty  _knows_ the truth behind the last thing Jughead said to her.

The look on her daughter's face, the way she sulks out and the way she walks after him, Betty sees so much of Jughead in Emi's expression and her mannerisms that she'd picked up from watching him, seeing it not only in that moment, but every day.

It truly  _is_  nurture over nature.

After all, it didn't matter that there was absolutely no blood relation between them. It didn't matter that they don't share a single strand of DNA. It didn't matter that she looked nothing like him.

None of that mattered for Emi to be Jughead's daughter.

#

Leaving the house with Emi, Jughead walks side-by-side with his daughter, walking further down their street until they reach the first point where they can stop and sit on a park bench.

Sitting down next to her dad, Emi stays silent and sheepish, as though she senses that she's in trouble even before Jughead speaks up, telling her: "Mummy told me what happened today, Emi..."

She looks up to him with bright eyes, a little smile and the wrong answer.

"We saw daddy at work!"

Emi's answer leaves Jughead trying to fight back his little grin before he corrects her about it actually being in relation to the  _other_  part of her day.

"Mummy told me that you hit another boy at the playground, Emi."

This time, Emi averts her dad's gaze as her big, brown eyes grow even wider as she looks down, explaining.

"Yeah... But, he was being bad to Coopey. He was bad! He made Coopey cry to mummy!"

While he knows that his four-year-old had handled the situation and her feelings in the wrong way, a part of Jughead can't help but empathise for her when she'd only been trying to defend her little brother and fight for justice, jumping to his protection against the bully.

However, he sets his own feelings and understanding to the side for a few moments as he concentrates on disciplining her.

"I know, Em. What he was doing was bad. But, hitting him for  _being_ bad is bad, too... We don't hit people, Emi. If a little person is bad, you come and tell mum or me or you talk to them. Otherwise, if a big person is being bad you come to us straight away, okay? Do you understand, Emi?"

Emi is still a little sheepish from being told off as she keeps her gaze cast away from him before she finally answers her dad.

"Okay daddy..."

"Good girl" he replies as he presses a kiss to the top of his daughter's head, giving her a hug as he whispers into her hair. "You are such a good big sister for looking after Cooper, bubba, but you just need to make sure that you do it the  _right_ way, okay?"

Jughead can feel her nodding into him, slowly and understandingly as he holds her in his arms. However, it's when her big, brown eyes look up to him that he melts completely.

"Sorry daddy... Sorry Emi hit the bad boy."

He can't hold back his smile as he gives her a little squeeze of reassurance before pulling away and looking down to her with love and pride.

"I know, bubba... I  _know_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Bit of a different one as we take a glimpse into the next-gen Joneses as teenagers... With a mystery to solve, Emi and Cooper prove to be a little too much like their parents for their own good as they dig up the past together.


	12. History

**12\. History**

The years passed by and both Emi and Cooper grew from toddlers, to small children, into adolescents and then teenagers edging closer and closer towards young adulthood.

Emi had grown to become an incredibly kind and strong-willed sixteen-year-old with a fiercely protective nature when it came to her family and her loved ones.

Meanwhile, at fourteen, her younger brother Cooper was a  _marshmallow_. He was sensitive and thoughtful, but being the brother between two sisters, Cooper easily displayed a similar over-protection when it came to those two girls.

However, despite the differences in their personalities and nature, the two Jones siblings definitely had an incredibly close connection to each other.

The older that Emi and Cooper became, the more their bond and connection grew. In fact, with just two years of age separating them that seemed to feel less and less each year, the two siblings almost became like twins as they grew up together.

Then, one night when she knows that their parents are well and truly asleep, Emi Jones appears in her younger brother's doorway interrupting him from where he's reading in bed before he tries to sleep, turning to her partner in crime to confess to a matter that's been on her mind lately.

"Coopey" Emi whispers in the dark, catching her brother's attention as he casts his eyes up from the book that he's reading by the light of his lamp and over to his sixteen-year-old sister who is standing in his doorway.

"I'm going to try and find out the truth about my real dad. Wanna help?"

Emi's sudden question had been prompted by a recent burst of hearing the same phrase over and over again just lately.

After having Emi and Cooper, Jughead and Betty had thought they were all done and dusted on the kid's front... Until, seven years after having Cooper, they were presented with another little surprise package in the form of their second daughter, Violet, or 'Lottie', as she was better known.

For the first five years of Lottie's life, she'd forever been likened to Betty. However, just recently there seemed to be a change and now the Jones family were constantly hearing:  _"isn't she just like her dad?"_ \- it was the question that had lead the sixteen-year-old in the family to try and investigate the answer to the question that had been glazed over for the first sixteen years of her life.

Emi and Cooper knew that Jughead wasn't her father.

It wasn't something that was ever really discussed nor was it acknowledged with no one in their family ever acting like he or addressing that Jughead wasn't Emi's father, but as soon as they reached certain ages, they just  _knew_  he wasn't; not biologically, anyway.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, from early on Betty and Jughead had chosen two guiding principles when it came to deciding how to manage the truth.

The first was that while they have raised Emi to know Jughead as her father, they would never lie. If Emi asked them a question, she'd get the truth; even if it was only the answer to that one question.

Then, their second principle was that while they have spent years protecting her from it, Jughead and Betty had decided that they would tell Emi the truth only once she was old enough and once they believed that she was at a point in her life where she was ready for the truth. While they didn't have a set age -they'd toyed with the idea of when she turned eighteen- they knew that whatever age their daughter was, the most important part was that they wanted her to be in a good place and secure with herself to know that the whole story doesn't change her life or who she is. After all, while as much as they wish they could always protect her from the truth, Emi deserved to know the whole story and the answers she would inevitably look for.

So, thinking about his sisters question and with concern etched into his face, Cooper just looked up at his sister hesitantly telling her that he didn't think it was such a good idea. He reminded her that their dad was  _their_  dad and that surely if there was anything she  _needed_  to know about the unknown man, their parents would tell her; that'd always been good at that, at treating their children with respect.

However, Emi had made up her mind and not even her best friend was going to unmake it.

"My question wasn't whether or not I  _should_  find out the truth about my real dad... I  **am**  going to find out the truth about him. My question  _was_  whether you want to help me or not."

As he closes his book with a sigh knowing his strong-willed sister is going to want to start now, Cooper just climbs out of bed, recalling some clichéd phrase about siblings, or friends, or family, or people not letting each other do stupid things,  _alone_.

"Alright... I'm in."

#

Cooper was right. Emi had started her search for the truth right away after enlisting him, beginning with ordering a copy of her own birth certificate to see if the truth was as simple as attaining a legal piece of paper.

However, given that there was at least fourteen business days that stood between them and the next step before they received the certificate, after they ordered it Cooper encouraged Emi to in the very least  _ask_  their mother for the truth  _before_  they turned it into a whole investigation.

So, as Betty was making breakfast the very next morning, Emi took up the first opportunity to ask her mother the question, at the cost of picking what may have been the worst timing possible.

Needless to say, as Betty almost dropped the piece of Lottie's toast that she was buttering from the shock of hearing her eldest daughter's question, Emi did not get anywhere at all.

"Drop it. Don't think about it. Don't worry about it. Don't even consider that question again. Trust me when I say that your dad is your dad and that's all you need to know.  _Promise me_  that you'll drop it, Em."

As the headstrong teenager stormed out of the kitchen with a huff and without a promise, Betty felt her stomach begin to churn within her, fearing the Pandora's Box that Emi's curiosity is teetering towards; desperately hoping that she will listen to her but simultaneously knowing she needs to find a better time and way to have that discussion with her daughter...

#

In the time between approaching her mother and receiving her birth certificate, Emi continued following leads and clues on her paternity, with assistance from Cooper who was still rather apprehensive about their mission.

Then, when they eventually received Emi's birth certificate in the mail it had been quite a dampener on the investigation and a dead-end when it had held the potential of being the answer to Emi's big question.

So, as the siblings -who in so many ways were almost like twins- opened the envelope together, Emi exhaled a deflated sigh as she read the name which revealed nothing new to her.

"It's hardly surprising, Em" Cooper said to his sister as he looked over to her from where they stand side-by-side, reading the name  _'Forsythe Pendleton Jones III'_ on the printed page in front of them.

"Dad's  _our_  dad, after all."

However, while it had not been the answer that she was seeking and it didn't help her with the name that she was looking for, Emi just brushed the blow off resiliently, looking for where to turn their investigation to next.

As they embarked on their own mission, those two Jones children never knew just how much they resembled the older generation of Joneses, following in their own parent's footsteps as they pieced the mystery together through their very own comprehensive investigation...

#

Over the weeks that followed, Emi and Cooper dug and they dug and they dug into the past. They dug into what they knew, they dug into what leads they had and they dug into what new information came to light as they worked together to try and find the answer to Emi's question.

They tried searching online and seeing what they could dig up, but, without a father's name, it limited the results of their searches.

Then, searching through their mother's high school years, they only found recurring links connecting their mum to just two men. One was their father himself, turning up with results on the 'Blue and Gold' and their work on the paper together, while the only other man that would pop up along with their mother's name was their Uncle Archie.

So, the next path they took in their investigation was scouring Betty's diaries that were filed away in storage in the garage.

Counting back nine months from her birth date, give  _and_  take a month or two to broaden their search range, Emi and Cooper then searched through Betty's diaries from throughout those months, reading their mother's words from when she was not all that much older than Emi herself is.

Looking through the diaries from that time in Betty's life, her children learned that if Emi was overdue she could have been conceived during the late stages of Betty's summer internship, otherwise just under nine exact months and between the two dates was the end of summer dance, or if Emi was born premature, it could have meant that she was conceived right after school went back.

Then, following their calculations, they quickly learnt that their parents only got together a number of weeks  _after_  school went back for the year. This was followed by the discovery that not long at all after they read the entries where Betty first began to suspect and then learn that she was pregnant with Emi, their mother ended her new relationship with their father.

But, the problem that the Jones siblings encountered was that a number of pages had been torn out from two-thirds of the way through their mother's old diary. And, both Emi and Cooper would bet good money that those torn out and burnt pages had held the answer to the questions that they were looking for. After all, from the pages that were missing and the pages that were not, they determined that Emi had mostly likely been conceived within those missing pieces.

After several pages detailing Betty's summer internship, the final pages before the following ones had been torn out and destroyed described the day she returned home, detailing her meeting up with Kevin and Archie and being introduced to a mysterious raven-haired new girl who she learned would be joining their year at school. Then, finally came the entry that Betty had scrawled as she changed into her pink dress that she had eluded to secretly hoping would win her the heart of the man she'd been concealing her feelings for from the sidelines; marking the start of a night that a sixteen-year-old had held such high hopes for.

This entry in particular had made for a bit of a turning point. After all, for all of about five minutes, the siblings played devil's advocate after they stumbled across the familiar name that had also been frequently linked to their mother's in their searches through her high school life, questioning whether or not their uncle was perhaps the unknown identity they'd been looking for, right under their noses.

"Uncle Archie's not my dad, is he?" the disbelief in Emi's voice was clear not only in her words but also in the way that her face scrunched up, as though she doubted her own words.

Meanwhile, Cooper's face showed  _exactly_  what he thought of his sister's question.

To be perfectly honest, Emi was on the same page as he was but she reasoned with him nonetheless.

"Journalists have to be the ones to ask the hard questions, Coop..."

After all, they had read about their mother's feelings for the boy next door and her childhood best friend. And, in a far-fetched attempt, they'd reasoned that both Archie and Emi have dark brown eyes.

However, they knew just how much their uncle adored his own kids; his seven-year-old junior, AJ, and baby Bella. They knew how close both their parents were with their Uncle Archie. And, they really did not think they that their parents would have been able to get over that and get to the point that they are with their uncle, nor could they find a single reason why if Archie  _was_  her father, he would not be acknowledged as her father.

Not to mention, Emi and Cooper had also come across the diary entry from just weeks after Betty had Emi and after she returned to school, where the new, young mother had written that she needed to keep 'him' from Emi.

So, with the pieces of the puzzle interlocking, it wasn't long before both Emi and Cooper knew that there was no way their Uncle Archie was the answer to their question, slashing him from their list of suspicions.

Then, a few pages after those that were torn out and just after the mentions of their parents establishing the school paper together, another name popped up and Emi was convinced that she'd found the answer to the question that she was searching for...

_Trev Brown._

For a while there, Trev had been a strong lead in their investigation given that the timing seemed to work and everything else that they learned about him only seemed to support the possibility of Emi having found her biological father in finding him. Then, after they found a photo of him online, Emi was  _convinced_  that they'd gotten to the bottom of it.

In fact, it had only been  _after_  Emi –along with her brother- tracked him down to where he lived just out of town along with his family and paid him a visit after school one day when her suspicions were extinguished as she mustered up the courage to ask him the question that she was so convinced she'd found the answer to.

However, the man on the other side of the door's eyes just grew wide in surprise before he began to chuckle with a kind smile that became a little more serious as he responded to the sixteen-year-old.

" _Have you asked your mother that question?"_

#

Along the way, the siblings had also been trying to piece together the reason why their parents had married so young; while still in high school and before Emi was born.

After all, given that Jughead wasn't her biological father, they figured that it wouldn't have been a shotgun wedding before having Emi when he hadn't even got her pregnant.

So, with that question also present in the back of their mind as they searched through the past, they never really got any further in answering that question throughout the searching they undertook over their main investigation.

However, raising the question to him one day out-of-the-blue, Emi once again asked her brother the hard question as they were walking home from school together.

"Hey, Coop? You don't think that mum lied, do you? Maybe dad proposed because he thought that I was  _his_  before they got married and before I was born ... You don't think she let dad believe that, do you?"

Cooper was the one to quickly nip his sister's suspicion in the bud, speaking sense for them both over the woman they know so well.

"No way... That doesn't sound like mum at all. We both know that she wouldn't do something like that. Besides, unless it was in one of the torn out pages, going off her diary, it looks like mum and dad didn't get together until she was several months pregnant with you. Dad would have been able to work it out."

Emi just nods. After all, with all sorts of unanswered questions floating around her life, her parents and her existence, she just needed her brother to speak the words aloud that -deep down- they both knew.

#

Despite all the time and effort that they had both poured into their investigation, the Jones siblings were growing frustrated with the fact that they were getting nowhere fast while trying to keep any evidence of their digging from right under their parent's noses.

Then, their breakthrough came on one, typical Saturday morning. It was a morning when Emi and Cooper had the house to themselves with both of their parents out of the house. Jughead had to work this morning while Betty was taking little Lottie to her Saturday morning swimming lessons.

Emi was lying on the ground with her legs kicked up on her brother's bed as she flicked through her parent's junior year class yearbook while Cooper sat at his desk nearby,  _telling_  Emi that he was looking things up for her though he was frequently growing preoccupied with searching his own interests rather than spending more time on their dwindling investigation.

Then, all of a sudden, coming across just one face and one name is what causes Emi to gasp aloud, instantly worrying her younger brother as he looks back at her, looking to see what she's looking at and what had elicited that reaction in her.

"I've got it, Coop... I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner" Emi murmurs in disbelief as she bolts upright from where she'd been lying down on the ground of her brother's bedroom floor.

"Search for the name Chuck Clayton..."

The surname had been the trigger for the sixteen-year-old. In fact, to Emi, it seemed as though everything fell into place with that one, single name.

After all, the Clayton's were still involved in the Joneses life just as 'distant relatives'. Their connection to the Joneses had never really been clarified, but neither Emi nor Cooper had ever really asked. Upon reflection, they'd only ever assumed that they were those family friends that you spend all your life calling 'family' without ever really questioning what your connection to them  _actually_  is.

Added to that, the Clayton's had had more do with Emi and her family while she was younger. After all, they had moved further away from Riverdale whilst Emi was a newborn, then they moved a little further away and just returned for visits after job opportunities arose and then once Chuck's younger sister Chloe began studying abroad, it made it difficult for the Claytons to see and be that involved with Emi and even when they did, they would try to bring things for Cooper and Lottie and show an interest in them, too, further reducing the obviousness of any special treatment.

Meanwhile, as her brother is running internet searches upon her command, Emi begins to babble away as she does, sharing her racing thoughts with him as her mouth races as fast as her mind is.

"Just think about the Clayton's, Cooper. I mean,  _sure,_  we don't have much to do with them now but whenever we see them while they  _try_  to be interested in all of us, if you stop and think about it, we've always sensed there was a bit of a bias towards me...We just joked about the fact that I was a favourite for them. I can't believe it didn't hit us earlier. But, look here, there's a Chuck Clayton in the yearbook. He must be  _their_  son. He must be  _my_  biological father..." Emi explains, pointing to and jabbing at the photo on the page as she shows it to her brother.

Then, looking to the photo on the page, Cooper looks between his sister and the man that she is pointing out on the page, seeing ties of similarity and noting the resemblance to his sister who he knows so well in that single photo of the man on the page causing Cooper to speak up in little more than a whisper.

"I think that's him, Em..."

The sixteen-year-old feels a slither more hope after her brother utters the words that leaves her feeling a racing sensation of hope, as though she feels like she's watching the puzzle pieces unfold in front of her as the big picture becomes clearer and clearer.

So, feeling like brother is taking too long as he searches through what feels to be a myriad of words, Emi pulls her own phone out of her pocket and tries to scramble for the truth of her paternity that she has been so actively pursuing, bubbling with her newfound hope to her brother.

"It's got to be him... I mean the surname, his parents, he was in the same year as mum and dad and not to mention, I  _look_  like him... I think we've found him, Coop."

Then, having returned to his own search from their new lead with the new name that has popped up in their investigation, Cooper utters the words aloud from the article that he'd been distracted with reading and processing...

"Em... Chuck Clayton's dead. There are reports of him being killed by a fellow student when he was seventeen. It was originally thought to be murder that was then downgraded to manslaughter."

They're the words that leave Emi reeling in a flurry of emotions and thoughts as they dig through the past and the history that is  _so_  much more complicated and devastating than either of them realise.

A long, lingering silence fills the room between the two siblings as Cooper watches his sister intently, watching her closely with concern before she finally asks the single word and the single question.

" _When_?"

"May. The year you were born."

"I wouldn't have even been two months old..."

Emi's taken aback. She goes quiet for a few minutes, processing the information as she sits on the side of her brother's bed...

She's not sad, she's not upset and she's not angry. She doesn't really know  _what_  she is feeling but what she does know is that she is feeling a  **lot**  of  _whatever_  it is as she talks through her questions with her brother, trying to process the new twist in the tale.

"I wonder if he knew me... I wonder if he'd met me before then or whether he even knew  _about_  me."

However, after checking Emi was holding up okay, Cooper returned to looking for information and he kept searching with a thirst for curiosity, undoubtedly thanks to both his parents.

The quantity of articles he could find were limited.

After all, given that their grandparents controlled the printed and primary news feed for the small town, they'd been very selective in what information was ever published in the  _Riverdale Register_  and the bigger papers only published the main aspects of the killing, not really digging too much deeper into the intertwined webs of what had happened all those years ago and in the lead up to Chuck Clayton's death.

But, after a few minutes, Cooper found the  _one_  article that another paper had picked up and published all those years ago, reporting on the trial, reporting on the verdict and reporting on the witness who had testified and given evidence in favour of Ethel Muggs, just as she had promised to do in return for Ethel turning herself in; Elizabeth Jones.

Neither Emi nor Cooper had  _any_  idea that a single paragraph of a single article would be the big piece of the puzzle that would slot so many smaller, scattered pieces into place.

As he reads the words on his screen while his sister utters words that he doesn't even hear properly like it's just background noise, Cooper's stomach plummets within him, his face grows pale, his skin grows clammy and his heart begins to pound almost loud enough to hear it as he slams his laptop shut.

"Emi, I think this is a bad idea. I think we need to listen to mum. We need to leave this alone. Dad's your dad, too. We know that. That's all that we need to know."

Looking between her brother and his slammed-shut laptop, Emi's dark brown eyes are cast between the two over a number of times before she finally gets up and walks over to her brother and his laptop, sensing that something he'd just seen had been the reason behind his sudden change of tune.

"What were you looking at? What did you see? You've found something, haven't you? Show me."

As his hands press down on his laptop to keep it shut, his sister's eyebrows furrow and her curiosity only intensifies as she tries to fight against him to open the laptop.

"Cooper! What have you seen?! Show me!" Emi argues, her voice growing louder and louder as she and her brother fight against each simultaneously other to open the laptop and to keep it closed.

The two siblings tug and pull and wrestle over the laptop until Cooper gains a little more grip against his sister, using the upper hand to pause and look Emi in the eye.

"Do you trust me, Em?"

Despite every pinky promise that had been both broken and kept between the brother and sister over the years, Emi rolls her eyes at Cooper's question and her undoubtable answer to him that she doesn't even need to stop and consider.

"Of course I do..."

A frown begins to spread over Emi's face at the fact that her brother even had to  _ask_  her that question as she begins to back off, leaving Cooper feeling as though he's succeeded. However, as she glances over in her brother's direction and notices that he is backing off just as she has too, it only results in Emi snapping up and seizing the moment as she swiftly snatches Cooper's laptop up into her hands and races out of his bedroom, fuelled by her burning curiosity and her need to know the truth.

Steps behind her as he races after his sister for her own protection, Cooper is just a few steps too slow and too late to steal his laptop back off of and away from Emi as she slams her bedroom door behind her. After her own upbringing, Betty had never allowed them to have locks on their doors, so as to avoid them hiding secrets behind the closed doors and from each other in her own family's home. So, Emi has to press herself up against the door to stop her brother from pushing his way through it as she opens up Cooper's laptop to find whatever it was that had made him slam the laptop shut and call off their investigation.

While her mind had been working overtime as she tried to guess the truth behind her paternity and the answer to her question of her father's identity, absolutely  _nothing_  could have prepared Emi for what she found on her brother's screen.

Emi found all but the confirmation of almost every question she has ever had in just two paragraphs of just one web-page as it recounts the trial into Charles Clayton's death of over fifteen years ago...

The article detailed the witness who testified for Ethel Muggs in the trial, the witness who testified to Chuck Clayton's character and supported Ethel's claims of self defense after having been attacked by the same man the previous July. From her and her brother's research and just as Cooper had realised the same detail, Emi realises that it matches with coinciding nine months before her birth date. The timing matches with her conception and the identity of the man her mother had been testifying against matched with Emi's suspicions as to who her biological father was.

Then, the surge of feelings that flood Emi -with the forerunner being  _shock-_  collapses her to the ground as she plummets and drops to the floor behind her door, her stomach lurching in grief all while she clutches her brother's laptop in her arms.

Hearing the movement from where he was still pushing and banging on the other side of the door and from where he was too late to protect his sister, Cooper then pushed the door open harder at sensing that she was no longer resisting as strongly, this time making it through.

Instantly, Emi's younger brother is sitting on the ground behind her door and beside her, pulling her into his arms as he holds her tight and close while he tries to console her.

"Emi... Emi... Em... It's okay... Everything's going to be okay...

Cooper doesn't know what else to say as he just repeats the same affirmations along with her name over and over again as he holds her in his arms, holding her close.

After all, as both of them are struggling with and are trying to process the truth of the past and the darkness behind Emi's identity, neither of them know quite what to say or do, so they don't even try...

#

The minute that Betty and Lottie arrive home, Emi flew downstairs from her room with her arms in front of her, holding herself in her arms.

"Mum. I need to talk to you."

Cooper was trailing behind his sister on the stairs, following her down and catching her up to hear the tail end of what she's just said to their mother.

Meanwhile, seeing the seriousness on her eldest child's face along with the expression that is a little pensive but that she can't quite pinpoint and pick precisely, Betty doesn't delay in listening to Emi as she whisks her into her bedroom, leaving Lottie with Cooper who immediately steps in to distract his younger sister while he's concerned for his eldest.

"What's going on, Em? Is everything okay?"

As she fights back the tears that are filling her deep brown eyes, Emi doesn't say a word either way in acknowledgement of her mum's questions. Then, as Betty takes a seat on the side of the bed, encouraging her daughter to sit beside her, the sixteen-year-old just shakes her head and stays standing as she paces near the door, physically unable to bring herself to sit down.

Betty's face is filled with concern for her daughter as she watches her pace around the room, clearly struggling.

Then, as Betty rises to her feet again, it seems to jolt Emi and prompt her to speak up, finally asking her mother about what has been plaguing her since her curiosity and hunger for the truth led to her finding out a little bit  _too_  much.

"Tell me, mum... Tell me everything... Tell me about Chuck Clayton... He's my father, isn't he?"

The questions her daughter is raising takes Betty's breath away audibly, just as hearing that name spoken from her lips does.

She takes a moment, she falters, but then finally as she swipes away the tear that has sprung to her eyes and streamed down her cheek almost instantaneously, Betty shakes her head, answering Emi's questions.

"Your father is your father, Emi... That's all that's important."

Fighting off the tears that are filling her eyes threateningly, Emi shakes her head, mustering up the courage to face the truth, to face the pain and to face the devastating discovery that she and her brother had made earlier that day.

" _Tell me_... Chuck Clayton was my father, wasn't he?" Emi speaks through gritted teeth as she struggles through every passing moment to contain the tears that are filling and welling within her eyes threatening to slide down her cheeks. Then, as she grows a little more desperate for the truth she repeats: "WASN'T HE?!"

Betty just shakes her head over and over again, but she can't say a word. After all, she so desperately  _wants_  to deny the awful truth but she cannot bring herself to lie to her daughter as her own parents would to her for so many years.

Then, as the two women stand there while tears brim their eyes, Emi's voice softens and her lips tremble as she watches her mother intently before she raises her next question that she struggles to even utter.

"Chuck... He... He- he hurt you, didn't he mum?"

Betty doesn't say another word to confirm or deny the truth that they both already know the answer to; she doesn't need to.

Rather, with tears streaming down both mother and daughter's cheeks, Betty just opens her arms out and wraps them around her eldest child. Instantly, Emi collapses into her mother's embrace as she releases an involuntary yelp while her body begins to tremble with each sob.

The two of them stay like this for a long, long time as they hold each other and hug each other and console each other through the heartbreaking truth and the pain of the devastating past.

When Emi finally composes herself enough to speak, the first thing she says as she looks up to her mother with red, drenched eyes who is holding her in her arms is "I'm sorry, mum... I'm so, so sorry."

Then, Betty just presses a single kiss to the top of her daughter's head before smoothing it over, just like she had when she was younger.

However, despite her mother's consolations, Emi is thinking back to her extensive research that she and her brother had been undertaking as she looks back up at her mum again with a renewed sense of guilt.

"You would have only been a few weeks older than I am now when that happened to you... And then after going through all of that, you found out you were having me..."

Pausing to try and compose herself despite her stomach still feeling as weak as it did from the moment when it dropped  _completely_  earlier that day as she and Cooper made the devastating discovery, Emi struggles to swallow and can barely even breathe as she emanates the terrible guilt that she's feeling, continuing to speak guiltily.

"How can you love me? How can you even  _look_  at me?!"

In that moment, Betty is honestly uncertain what breaks her heart more; her daughter's question as she looks up at her with her guilt evidently riddling her or Emi's conviction in asking that question, feeling that it's a question she even needs to ask.

Unsurprisingly, Emi looks visibly nauseated until her mother takes the side of her face into her hands, bringing her to look at her.

"Do  _not_  say that. Do not even  _think_  it, ever. I do not think it and I do not feel it; I never have, Emi. No matter what resulted in you being here, I, your dad  _and_  I, love you, Emi. We love you just as much as we love Cooper and Lottie. I  _promise_  you that."

With a small smile as she looks down at her eldest daughter, stroking the side of her face with her thumb, Betty conveys her love and her promise in her expression without another word.

Then, Betty exhales a heavy sigh as she looks down at Emi again, realising that she finally needs to address the matter that she had been dodging for so many years.

After all, now that Emi knows the worst, she needs to hear some of the other parts of that time of their life back then and what came  _after_  the most horrific night of Betty's life.

"I think it's time for you to hear the whole story, from both your father and I..."

Then, suddenly, Emi pricks up more alert and defensive as she responds to Betty's suggestion seriously.

"Okay, but I want Cooper to hear it, too. He's my brother and we've been in this together. Anything you say to me, you can say to him, too."

#

After what felt like the longest evening known to man, Betty waited until her husband returned home, filling him on their offspring's discovery, with all of them waiting through an uncomfortable family dinner and waiting until Lottie was down for the night before the four of them sat down together in the lounge room, Betty and Jughead on one lounge with Emi and Cooper on the other.

Starting with the very beginning, Jughead held her hand as she gave their children an incredibly brief explanation and the only necessary details from the night of the dance as she alluded to the most horrific night of her life when she was assaulted.

Then, from there, both Jughead and Betty shared the discussion, filling in each other's blanks and sharing their own thoughts and feelings on that time of their life all those years ago...

They talked through the aftermath of the attack.

They talked through the day when she passed out at school, leading to both a young girl's suspicions and Emi's existence being confirmed.

Betty talked through the fact that on the very same day as learning she was pregnant, she had broken up with Jughead, with a mother's love prompting her to choose her unborn baby right from the very beginning,  _even_  when it meant making the difficult decision of ending her blossoming relationship with the man she was growing to love and preparing for life as a single mother with a baby that they both knew wasn't her boyfriends'.

Betty talked through the absolute love she had felt for Emi right from her very, very first proper prenatal appointment which had only solidified her conviction to make a life for them, right from the very beginning and despite everything.

They talked through Jughead's concern in both Betty and her unborn baby at that time and despite their breakup which had led him to piecing together the truth, just like Emi and Cooper had today.

They talked through the way that –despite being broken up- Jughead had stood up and declared that Betty was pregnant with his baby in front of half the school, to prevent Chuck from piecing together the fact that Emi was his.

Betty talked through the afternoon when she had been bowled over with love and adoration for the fact that Jughead had given Emi her very first gift well before she was born; the little unisex onesie that Betty had held onto and pulled out to show them.

They talked through the moment that had changed Betty's life for the better as Jughead made the offer of standing by Betty and Emi as her father, pledging himself to them out of  _love_ , not responsibility. Then, Betty elaborated on that with telling her daughter all about how proud he had been of her before she was even born; how he wouldn't shut up after an ultrasound and the way he'd treasured her ultrasound photos.

They talked through the reactions of their family and friends as Betty found a way to tell them that she was pregnant and that she'd committed herself to the idea of raising her baby.

They talked about the way that a remark from Chuck had led to a fist fight with Jughead defending his girls, before their grandpa FP intervened and finished what Jughead had started; which would incriminate them both in the murder investigation that they had no idea that they'd be facing in a few months time.

They talked through the way that for the briefest week of her entire pregnancy, her age, her situation and her inexperience all united forces to get to her, making Betty believe that she  _couldn't_  be the mother to Emi that she so desperately wanted to be, believing that adoption would be the best option for her unborn child's future at that time. They talked through how Betty struggled with the concept that she thought was best for Emi until Jughead helped her through what she was feeling and suppressing and the fact that he knew Betty wouldn't be able to live with anything other than raising her.

They talked through the way that their father proposed to their mother, explaining how he had been writing their lives and their history into a story, writing their story, with the only difference to their tale being that it ended in a proposal, making way for the fictional twist in his story to become fact as he proposed to her.

They talked Emi and Cooper through the reason why their parents got engaged at the age that they did and they explained how though they're were getting married because they loved  _each other_ , but that they did it so young because they loved  _Emi_. They explained why they married when they did and at the age they did for Jughead to be automatically listed as her legal father as Betty's spouse and without needing to lie on the birth certificate, but to reduce any chance that Chuck may have tried to make to worm his way into Emi's life.

They talked through their wedding day as Emi and Cooper's parents made a promise as two young teenagers, pledging themselves to each other for the rest of their lives, going on to explain how after barely a week of newly-wedded bliss they then became family of  _three_.

They talked through the moments of delirium, exhaustion and joy as they became parents and explained the story of how and why Jughead had chosen Emi's name all those years ago.

They talked through the first weeks of Emi's life as through trial and error they learnt to become parents along the way, all the while juggling returning to school with a newborn while actively protecting their baby from her biological father who walked the same corridors and classrooms they did.

They talked through some of the final days of Chuck's life. They explained how their lives felt like they had come to a grinding halt after he took Emi from them at school, then filing a paternity suit against them to fight for a part in Emi's life just two days before his life ended, explaining how Jughead had suggested for the three of them to move away and flee from their small, home town in order for them to protect their daughter. And then, they explained how just the next day they received a call from Kevin informing them that their greatest fears for their daughter had died, along with Chuck Clayton.

They talked Emi and Cooper through the  _same_  investigation that they had been looking into over the last few weeks which they had investigated fifteen years ago and with a baby on their hip in order to clear their family and friend's names who were raised in the murder investigation and to clear Jughead in particular after he had been arrested in connection to Chuck's death.

They talked them through what they found out and how they solved it, eventually leading Betty to Ethel Muggs and how she had unintentionally ended Chuck's life when she'd only been trying to protect her own.

They talked them through all of what followed, leading up to their second, wonderful little surprise just two years on in the form of a baby boy named Cooper, ending their explanation on a positive note and incorporating her brother into what had ultimately been 'Emi's story' that she'd insisted her brother hear, too.

And then, despite her families concerned gazes as they watched her closely throughout the telling and despite her brother's comforting hugs, warm smiles and his consoling gestures throughout, as soon as the story is finished and her parents wrapped it up, Emi got up and raced off from the information overload, with the back of her hand over her mouth as tears seemed to spring to her eyes.

While all three of the others were quick to rise from their seats and follow after her, Jughead holds his hand out to his wife and son, indicating that he'll take it.

#

Following behind after Emi, Jughead gives her just a few moments to take a breather from where she'd darted outside on the balcony and where she's now pacing back and forth before he joins her, slowly walking over to her and wrapping an arm around her as he moves outside too.

Jughead gently leads his daughter over to the step where the two sit down side-by-side while he keeps his arm around her back, holding her and supporting her, running his hand up and down her forearm reassuringly.

"Emi, I know you have been dealt an overwhelming amount of information today. But, I want to make sure that you know that regardless of what was said and what we told you, you are  _my_  daughter."

Feeling her eyes begin to glisten as they fill with tears once again today, Emi sinks into him from where his arm is hung around her, sinking into the comfort and protection of her father's touch after the answers she'd found in her hunt for the truth had led to so many more devastating truths than she'd ever expected to find following that question mark.

Looking up at him as she suppresses her sniffle, seeing Emi's big brown eyes that are sparkling with tears breaks Jughead's heart as she asks him the same question that she had asked her mum just a little earlier on that day.

"Dad? How can you love me? How can you know how horribly I was made and how could you have seen how badly mum was hurt and  _still_  love me?"

Her question isn't whether or not her dad  _does_  love her. From the last sixteen years, along with everything he and her mother had told her just minutes earlier, Emi has absolute faith in the fact that he does. However, her question is  _how_  can he.

Meanwhile, just as it had for Betty, both his daughter's question and the look on her face breaks Jughead's heart as he just casts his eyes down at her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, followed by a heavy sigh.

"Hearing everything that you heard today is an incredibly distressing experience and it might feel like knowing all of those things changes your viewpoint for you. Know that,  _sure_ , there are a few small parts of you that are a little like him –like your beautiful brown eyes- but the biggest difference between you and Chuck is your heart... You have such a kind heart that is full of goodness towards all. But, just know that everything you've just learned has never, ever changed anything for  _us_. You are  _our_  girl, Emilie Jones. You are smart, you are beautiful and you are strong, Em. And, your mum and I are so proud of you and the incredible young woman that you are growing up to become. We are so proud to be your parents."

This time as Emi sniffles, swiping at her eyes, her tears are not so much triggered by the pain of the horrors she's learned but rather it's her realisation that no matter what she  _had_  found out about her identity, about her biological father and about all that her mother had endured, she can't help the smallest of smiles on her face from the warmth in her heart.

After all, despite everything, her mother had been willing to give up her new relationship with one of her best friends, she'd been willing to give up the promising career that her schooling had been working her towards, she'd been willing to endure the difficulties and struggles of becoming a teenage mother and she'd been willing to do everything all on her own, protecting her from her biological father and the truth behind her identity.

Then, despite everything, her father had  _chosen_  her. He hadn't just stepped up to the plate and fulfilled responsibility. He had taken her on as a responsibility willingly. He had been and will always be her father by choice, reminding her of that as he murmurs into her hair.

"I love you so much, my girl."

#

After the long, exhausting evening, Emi and Cooper had finally gone to bed.

Cooper had offered to sleep on the floor of his sister's room in case she woke through the night, being haunted by the result of their investigation. It's just like Emi would offer to sleep on the floor of his room when Cooper suffered with nightmares as a child.

Meanwhile, in their own bedroom, Jughead and Betty are curled and cuddled up as he runs his hands up and down his wife's back, holding her close to him after the day they'd had.

As much as they had spent the last sixteen years trying to protect their daughter from it, Betty knew that today was coming from the day she found out that she was pregnant. She knew that one day; there would always be the question of her biological father and what the story was there.

And, today was that day.

"How are you feeling?" Jughead eventually murmurs into the darkness of the night, brushing a hand through his wife's golden locks from where she's laying on his chest.

"Exhausted... No matter how much time goes by, it is always still hard to go through all of that and relieve some of the toughest parts of back then. I just still can't believe that the kids were investigating it together and managed to get to the bottom of it without us even knowing..."

Betty doesn't see the little grin on her husband's face.

"We should have expected it... They're  _our_  kids, after all."

It's just two words –  _'our kids'_. But, even after all these years and after his absolute commitment to her and their family, time after time, those two words are  _still_  enough to swell Betty's heart with love for her husband and his unwavering support; something she never takes for granted.

"Thank you, Juggie... Thank you for everything. Thank you for being there for me, for us and for our family. Thank you for always  _wanting_  Emi. Thank you for making her yours."

With a smile on the corner of his lips, Jughead just leans down and dips his head towards hers, pressing a kiss to his wife's lips as another smile follows it.

"She's  _our_  bubba. She always has been."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit more a serious one this time with quite a time-jump. However, this story is quite free form with just one-shots and little moments from whatever point in their lives I feel like writing and covering so while I've kept it quite chronological thus far as I worked through the existing ideas I had, I can go backwards or forwards again.
> 
> If anyone has any little moments you'd like to see for the Jones family, let me know!


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